Megan McIlroy, The Examiner
2007-03-02 08:00:00.0
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Annapolis -

Clutching a cardboard sign that read “Room for Recovery,” Keith Hunter, 49, peered down at a group of his homeless peers gathered on the Annapolis Lawyer’s Mall on Wednesday.

Hunter, a recovering drug addict, and his friend, Stanley Cosby, 41, looked on as the group shouted, cheered and sang, sharing their plight with the Maryland legislators passing by.

“It’s not like they don’t know,” Cosby said, referring to the legislators. “They just don’t care.”

The rally was part of Homeless Person’s Lobby Day 2007, sponsored by Health Care for the Homeless.

The treatment center provides medical and mental health care for more than 11,000 Marylanders, according to the organization’s literature.

The rally was the same day as a hearing on a Senate bill that would expand the scope of existing hate crime laws to include attacks on people who are homeless.

It’s one of many bills in the Maryland General Assembly that would help the state’s homeless population, said Adam Schneider, a Health Care for the Homeless representative.

The group also was there to support a House measure that would extend Medicaid coverage to all adults with incomes below 116 percent of federal poverty guidelines. One person earning $11,844 annually lives at 116 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

The bill, proposed by Del. Peter Hammen, D-Baltimore City, would double the $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes to pay for additional medical coverage.

“It broadens the levels of income that will have access to health care. It’s one of the biggest issues that needs addressing,” said Del. Elizabeth Bobo, D-Howard County, a co-sponsor of the bill.

“[We live] in one of the wealthiest states in the country, and we have a very significant number of homeless people. It’s tragic and inexcusable.”

Attendees also called on the governor to invest an additional $1 million in the state’s Emergency and Transitional Housing and Services Program.

“A decent home in a healthy neighborhood is a basic human right,” said Michael Sarbanes, executive director of the Citizens Planning and Housing Association.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com