Lula creates scholarships for homeless people and wants businesspeople to offer them jobs

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned the creation of a scholarship for homeless people who attend training, professionalization and qualification courses as one of the measures of the National Policy for Decent Work and Citizenship for the Homeless Population (PNTC Pop Road).

The project was authored by federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP), was approved by Congress last year and sanctioned by Lula this Wednesday (17) without vetoes.

According to the text, Pop Rua also aims to encourage the creation of jobs and the hiring of homeless people. The new legislation will be implemented in a decentralized manner, with the collaboration of the Union, states and municipalities that choose to join.

The proposed courses will cover both teenagers and adults and will be offered by states and municipalities to improve their educational level. The scholarship will not prevent the receipt of other aid benefits, the amounts being determined by decree.

In addition to the courses, the new policy will also provide incentives for hiring homeless people through partnerships with companies, which will be marked with stamps for joining the initiative. It is also planned to create Homeless Workers Support Centers (CatRua) to provide assistance to unemployed or homeless people seeking professional guidance and insertion into the job market.

The centers will also offer access to the National Program for Access to Technical Education and Employment (Pronatec) and the National Employment System (Sine).

The legislation also establishes that the state or municipality must give priority to places in public schools for children and adolescents of homeless people who are seeking professional qualifications.

According to the law, homeless people are defined as those who “have in common the lack of housing and use public places as living and living spaces, as well as institutional reception units for eventual or temporary overnight stays”.

Erika Hilton celebrated the sanction, stating that this is the first law to establish a national policy for this population, which she says is made up of black people, women, LGBTQIA+, disabled people and workers.

At the end of last year, Lula launched the Visible Streets Plan, with a planned investment of almost R$1 billion for social assistance and food security policies, health, institutional violence, citizenship, education, culture, work and income, and production and management. of data.