Cities Undermine the Holiday Spirit with Unconstitutional Bans on Sharing Food with the Homeless

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., the city council is considering a rule that would require people to obtain a permit to share food with the homeless and others in need.

After informing local aid groups recently that it would begin prohibiting them from sharing food with people in need in Newark, the city changed its tune slightly "And said that groups who give out food would need a permit and that the new rule would be specifically targeted at those who give food to the homeless," the New York Times reported last week.

What exactly has emboldened elected officials in Newark and Murfreesboro to crack down on sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate around the holidays? In truth, these cities are no outliers.

As I've detailed, cities around the county, including Orlando, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Birmingham, and San Antonio, have enacted ordinances that prohibit residents from sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate.

Most recently, I blasted a Charlotte, N.C., lawmaker's proposal this past summer to make sharing food with the homeless a misdemeanor there.

"Groups wanting to serve food can apply for permission from the Mayor's Office for Homeless Initiatives, which provides training prior to the permit being granted," the Houston Chronicle reported last month, in a piece focused on Houston city officials' ongoing attempts to sabotage efforts by the charitable group Food Not Bombs to share food with the homeless and others in need.

Las Vegas, one of the first cities to be sued over its permitting requirements, which were rescinded as a result of a 2010 settlement, had a "Ban [that] imposed steep penalties-including a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail- for anyone caught giving away food in public to more than a handful of people without a permit," I explain in my book Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable.

https://reason.com/2021/12/25/cities-undermine-the-holiday-spirit-with-unconstitutional-bans-on-sharing-food-with-the-homeless/