Cities Cracking Down on Groups Feeding Hungry

New Report Details Policies Penalizing Groups Feeding Homeless People; Offers Alternatives

Washington, DC, November 15, 2007 - The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) have released a new report entitled Feeding Intolerance: Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness. The report details how local governments across the country are using a wide variety of ordinances, policies, and tactics to restrict groups that share food with poor and homeless people. The report also offers examples of more constructive alternatives to these counterproductive laws.

Click here to download a copy of the report.

"Punishing charitable groups and people for the 'crime' of feeding their hungry fellow human beings is appalling," said Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of NLCHP. "It is also counter-productive: cities should be working with these groups, not against them."

The criminalization of homelessness in the United States is a severe problem, with cities across the country implementing measures that ban eating, sitting, or sleeping in public. While these regulations have been on the rise over the past 10 years, laws targeting local churches and other groups who feed or shelter homeless people mark a disturbing new trend that threatens the well-being of America's most vulnerable citizens.

"Restricting the feeding of homeless people in public spaces nationwide is just another veiled effort to push the visible poor out of downtown America," said Michael Stoops, Acting Executive Director of NCH.

The report covers a diverse list of cites around the country in which unfair restrictions on sharing food have been enacted and enforced. These cities are:
Atlanta; Baltimore; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Cincinnati; Dallas; Denver; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Gainesville, Fla.; Hempstead, N.Y.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Las Vegas; Miami; Orlando, Fla.; Pinellas Park, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Santa Monica, Calif.; Sarasota, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Wilmington, N.C.

The report also offers alternatives to these restrictions, including steps that cities like Cleveland, Ohio have taken to combat hunger without criminalizing sharing efforts.

"Constructive programs like Cleveland's suggest that alternatives to food sharing restrictions do exist," said Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Program Director at NLCHP. "They show that local governments can successfully work together with homeless advocates to reach a common goal: ending hunger and homelessness."

For more information on the report contact NLCHP Civil Rights Program Director Tulin Ozdeger (Tozdeger@NLCHP.org, 202/638-2535) or NCH Acting Executive Director Michael Stoops (Mstoops@nationalhomeless.org, 202/462-4822).

Click here to download a copy of the report.