A local chef, who had his food handler"s license was raided by a dozen cops and health department officials who stole all of his equipment because he fed the homeless without a proper permit.
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The state of homelessness in America is appalling, a largely unreported issue, the problem ignored by Washington, doing little or nothing to address it.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, on any given night, over 550,000 Americans are homeless – forced to sleep outside, in an emergency shelter or transitional housing.
Homelessness is a poverty issue, affecting the working poor and unemployed – housing and rental costs increasingly unaffordable.
In 2014, around seven million Americans doubled-up with family or friends, for many prelude to homelessness.
A recent HUD report revealed increased homelessness last year, saying it comes at a time of an affordable housing crisis.
According to an Apartment List National Report, rents were higher in 89 of America’s 100 largest cities last year.
A 2017 National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) report, titled Housing not Handcuffs, said laws criminalized homelessness in 187 cities since 2006 – prohibiting sleeping in public places, living in vehicles and sharing food.
The NLCHP explained “(a)lthough many people experiencing homelessness have literally no choice but to live outside and in public places, laws and enforcement practices punishing the presence of visibly homeless people in public space continue to grow.”
In too many places across America, the nation’s homeless are criminalized for their misery – instead of federal, state and local authorities taking responsible steps to alleviate the problem.
National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Nan Roman explained “(u)nsheltered homelessness is on the rise, and major cities are feeling it most,” adding:
“Ending homelessness is a complex, long-term effort. For several years we’ve seen homeless systems become more efficient and effective and getting people into housing.”
“But the effectiveness of the homeless assistance efforts cannot make up for the increasing number of people who become homeless because they simply cannot afford housing.”
“In the short run, we will need more investment in effective homelessness programs. In the longer run, we need to address the increasing inability of poor and low income people to find affordable places to live.”
In California on a single night in 2016, over 20% of the state’s 39 million residents experienced homelessness – a shocking indictment of a major inadequately addressed issue.
New York City ranks highest in US homelessness, followed by Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Phoenix.
The Chicago Coalition of the Homeless estimates around 125,000 Chicagoans experience homelessness over the course of a year – a major problem any time, a serious health issue in frigid weather.
Some cities prohibit feeding the homeless. Atlanta issues fines. So do Houston and Daytona Beach. Tampa arrests people feeding the homeless without permit permission.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), at least 33 US municipalities prohibit handing out free food.
El Cajon in suburban San Diego arrested 12 activists from the Break the Ban group for feeding homeless city residents. A 2017 ordinance prohibits it.
Volunteer Matthew Schneck said “(i)f I’m going to be arrested for something, let it be for feeding the homeless.”
“It was absolutely necessary to beak this law until they were willing to enforce it, and, now that they have, we will continue this fight in court,” Shane Parmely stressed.
Mark Lane called the ban “an excuse,” explaining “we have a problem with Hepatitis A, but you don’t battle that by not feeding homeless people.”
“You battle that by giving them proper restroom facilities, proper hand washing facilities, education.”
The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties condemned the arrests, executive director Norma Chavez Peterson saying:
“Dr. Martin Luther King was deeply concerned about ending poverty and hunger in America.”
“I have no doubt that if he were alive today, (he’d) stand with people who would share food with the hungry; and he would stand against those who would call this a crime.”
An uncaring nation is the real issue, serving its privileged class exclusively, largely ignoring hardships its most vulnerable people endure.
The post Feed the Homeless in America, Get Fined or Arrested appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.
Tampa, FL — When feeding willing hungry people becomes illegal, that is a telling sign of a bureaucratic police state. And, in the ostensible Land of the Free, the enforcers of such arbitrary and cruel laws have no problem kidnapping and locking people in a cage for helping those in need. In fact, it happens on a regular basis.
The most recent case of police cracking down on caring people who dared to give organic rice and beans to the hungry happened over the weekend in Tampa.
Members of the charitable group Food Not Bombs gathered Saturday afternoon to hand out hot coffee and bagels to Tampa’s homeless community. However, their good deed was thwarted by police who quickly arrested seven of the people serving the food and one homeless man who dared grab a bagel from the table after cops ordered everyone to stop eating.
The entire horrendous deprivation of liberty was streamed live to Facebook by Erin Sauer. It’s nothing short of infuriatingly asinine.
Why would a dozen cops descend on a group of volunteers donating their own food to willing people who need it? Well, Food not Bombs failed to pay the extortion fee to the city in the form of a permit.
Food not Bombs is not some fly by night charity looking to rustle feathers by ‘illegally’ distributing food the homeless. The group sets up to feed the homeless at least twice a week — so obtaining a permit and purchasing the city-required insurance policy is too pricey to be sustainable.
When kind-hearted people don’t have a limitless supply of money to grease the statist skids and pay their extortion fees to remove all the red tape — they become outlaws.
ANTHONY MARTINOThe good news is that the group is made up of brave people who are unafraid to disobey unjust laws. In an email to CL Tampa, a spokesperson for the group noted that Food not Bombs “has no plans to stop sharing food with the homeless and hungry and will continue to defy unjust laws that criminalize compassion and mutual aid.”
Unfortunately, in the land of the free, feeding the homeless has become a revolutionary act. Cities across the country are cracking down on good people like those at Food not Bombs who simply want to feed the needy.
Last December, the Dallas, Texas city council enacted Ordinance No. 29595, which makes it illegal to serve food to the homeless without jumping through a statist myriad of bureaucratic hoops, including a fee, training classes, and written notices.
However, the folks over at the aptly named organization Don’t Comply acted in a similarly brave manner as Food not Bombs, and took to the streets just outside the Austin Street Shelter in Dallas. However, the members of Don’t Comply had guns. They were not shut down and the group successfully fed thousands of homeless people.
“We intend to expose the city’s cruelty in the face of thousands in our community who are struggling with issues of food insecurity, mental and medical health issues, poverty, and homelessness,” a spokesperson for Food not Bombs said in an email according to CL Tampa. “If the city will not address these problems, the least they can do is not get in the way and stop others from addressing these needs. Compassion should never be criminalized.
