Cities Are Criminalizing an Act of Charity Toward the Homeless.

Cities Are Criminalizing an Act of Charity Toward the Homeless - Mic

The National Coalition for the Homeless recently issued a report indicating 21 cities in the U.S. have enacted legislation that restricts feeding the homeless. This marks a 47% increase in such laws. 

Over 600,000 people suffer from homelessness in the United States. Of those 600,000-plus, 65% are living in emergency shelters. In 2012, a study from the Queen's Nursing Institute discovered the diets of homeless people to be "high in saturated fat and added sugars and low in fiber, vitamins and minerals." This is despite the fact that 70% of the homeless people they spoke to wanted to improve their diet.

Cities Are Criminalizing an Act of Charity Toward the Homeless - Mic

Thus, stopping food sharing programs is cutting off a vital lifeline for homeless people and condemning them to the systemic malnutrition that plagues the poor. And it's thanks to a few restrictions that, in practice, seem patently absurd.

How can city governments make charitable acts illegal? These restrictions don't necessarily make "charity" — like local groups such as churches giving out food to homeless people — illegal. Instead, governments are finding ways to make it difficult for food sharing programs to operate legally.

One method is to require food sharing programs to purchase a permit to distribute food. Another is to force homelessness-oriented charities to comply with food safety regulations. In fact, the report claims this can outright stop food from being shared on safety grounds.

To quote the law on Houston's books:

Charitable food services means providing food without charge, payment or other compensation to benefit those in need at an outdoor location not owned, leased or controlled by the individual or organization providing the food.

Food service event means each instance in which charitable food services are provided to more than five individuals. Recognized charitable food service provider means an individual or organization which participates in charitable food services and has received a certificate from the city designating said individual or organization as being in good standing in the City of Houston Recognized Charitable Food Service Provider Program.

It shall be unlawful for any organization or individual to sponsor or conduct a food service event on public or private property without the advance written consent of the public or private property owner or other individual with lawful control of the property.

Houston's food sharing law also states these programs must "coordinated jointly by the director of the health and human services department and one or more community-based organizations."

The distinction is somewhat absurd. You can give five sandwiches to five homeless people, but if you give six sandwiches to six homeless people, you're breaking the law.

But perhaps the most effective method city governments use is mobilizing the population against the food sharing programs. 

"In most cases, business and homeowners who do not want people experiencing homelessness to be attracted to their communities, place tremendous pressure, and sometimes even harass, the organization responsible for the food-sharing program to cease or relocate their programs," the report said.

The biggest cities attempting to restrict food sharing include Philadelphia, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, Seattle, Houston and Dallas.