Won asks Dalton to read state and local laws on shelter access
Won asks for the difference between state and local laws and DHS policy, asks staff to read the law on record, and Dalton says the law is lengthy and can be cited, clarifying the NDA is about resident privacy, not building conditions.
Thank you so much, Chair Morano and Chair Hudson.
Can you expand?
Because I would like to know the difference between which state and local laws you're referring to and what is HPD, sorry, DHS policy.
Sure.
So, right.
So there's a DHS policy and it and we can share this policy.
It's called DHS PB 2020, 2026, 001.
So we can we can provide that to council.
And it is one of the ways that we are requiring with state social services law 136.
Could you read the laws?
So that the public can hear, because there seems to be a lot of different opinions on what is law and what is policy internally.
I would have to look up that law in order to read it to you here.
Is there someone on the staff who could make sure that before this testimony time ends that we can have this publicly read on record?
What I'm hearing is it is a pretty lengthy law, and we could cite that for you so everyone can read it on their own.
And can you help me understand what is the necessary paperwork that was signed by Chair Hudson?
It is the nondisclosure agreement that we ask anyone to sign, that we ask certain visitors, and that's most visitors, to sign who are visiting the site.
So if we sign an NDA agreement, how are we supposed to talk publicly about the atrocities that we see inside?
No, thank you again for allowing me to clarify that.
The NDA and the laws are strictly about the people who stay there.
They are not about tarps or food or any building conditions you might see.
If you see what you view to be showers that are not respecting people's privacy, if you see a ramp that you do not think is ADA accessible, if you see food that you don't think is ADA accessible,
is edible or at the quality we should be providing, you can absolutely report that.
We just, of course, have to protect the people who are staying there.
And that is the entire purpose behind the DHS protocol as well as those laws.
Okay, so when we come for a visit and we have signed an NDA, as long as we don't disclose the individuals who are currently residents of the shelter, we can speak publicly about the atrocities that we have witnessed during our oversight visit.
Absolutely.
Okay.