(a) Causes of action.— Includes, for the purposes of this chapter, actions under this chapter, under the Puerto Rico Civil Code, 1930 edition; the Mental Health Code, §§ 6152 et seq. of Title 24; and the Special Resources Act, §§ 3391 et seq. of this title, brought by a homeless person or his/her intercessor.
(b) Homeless.— Means, for the purposes of this chapter, any person:
(1) Who has no fixed, regular or appropriate residence, or
(2) whose residence is:
(A) A publicly or privately supervised shelter designed to provide temporary residence, including those institutions devoted to providing transitory residence to the mentally ill;
(B) an institution that provides temporary residence for those individuals who are about to be institutionalized, or
(C) a public or private place that is not designed or regularly used as a dormitory for human beings.
(3) It also includes any person included under the definition of the terms “homeless”, “homeless individual”, or “homeless person” of Public Law 100-77 of July of 1987, 101 Stat 482, as amended, known as the “Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act”.
(c) Intercessor.— Means, for the purposes of this chapter, any person who is an officer, official, employee, or a volunteer duly identified and authorized by a community-based, government, federal, Commonwealth or municipal organization, duly authorized and identified by the entity to which he/she is affiliated, who acts as the spokesperson or representative of a homeless person.
(d) Community-based organization.— Means, for the purposes of this chapter, any juridical person that has notified the Department of the Family of its intent to render intercession services for the benefit of the homeless.
History —Code Civil Proc., 1933, added as § 696 on Aug. 31, 2000, No. 277, § 1, eff. 90 days after Aug. 31, 2000.