From August 2006 until August 2007 I worked full time as an AmeriCorps service member. For those of you not familiar with AmeriCorps, it’s just like the Peace Corps, except service members (i.e. volunteers) serve in the United States. You don’t get paid to serve. Members receive a living stipend which can be as much as $200 each week. So let me tell you straight up, I had it tough last year. But as difficult as it was for me, the people I was trying to help had it much worse than I did.
My service assignment was to work for a Haven House Services, Incorporated (HHSI) a not for profit corporation that operates transitional housing and a homeless shelter. I assisted homeless persons in applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (Social Security) and Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) benefits. The goal was to assist people in getting the benefits they are entitled to and then transition them to permanent housing.
My site supervisor was Barbara Anderson, a member of the board of directors for the National Coalition for the Homeless. So I had a direct link to the real truth of poverty and homelessness in the United States. And folks, what you see on the news and read in the papers is not even the tip of the iceberg! Homelessness is a national crisis which our government, supported by our news media, is trying to sweep under the rug.
I speak from first hand observations of the homeless and the way they are treated by our society. For the most part law enforcement treat homeless persons with suspicion, even when they are the victims of crime.
I personally witnessed a police officer tell a homeless mother that there was nothing he could do about another woman beating her 6 year old child because he did not see it happen. He said this despite the abuser’s admission that she “took him in the bathroom and beat the shit out of that little bastard.” I stood right there and heard it myself. When I pointed out to the officer that the woman admitted she beat the child, he told me to mind my own business or he would take me to jail for interfering with a police investigation. Well you can’t interfere with something that doesn’t exist I say.
Some communities have made many efforts to hide their homeless and to punish poverty. For example, laws against loitering and panhandling target homeless people. City ordinances criminalize sleeping in parks and on sidewalks.
And now, it is a crime to FEED HOMELESS PEOPLE IN PUBLIC.
Feeding Intolerance: Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness is a report prepared in November 2007 by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless. This report exposes city ordinances and bans that “target groups that share food with homeless people. . . .”
Here are some examples of bans on public feeding of the homeless:
• The Las Vegas city council passed an ordinance that bans “the providing of food or meals to the indigent for free or for a nominal fee” in city parks
• The City of Wilmington, N.C., passed an ordinance that prohibits the sharing of food on city streets and sidewalks
• The Orlando, Fla., city council passed an ordinance that prohibits sharing food with more than 25 people in city parks without a permit and limits groups to doing so to two times a year
In Orlando, Florida police arrested a man who served food to 30 people in a public park. He was arrested for violating a city ordinance that prohibits sharing food with more than 25 people without a permit. He could receive a penalty of up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail.
In Dallas, Texas if you get caught sharing your food with a homeless person without a permit you can be fined up to $2,000 and/or jailed for up to six months.
In May 2007, a group that had been providing food to the homeless in a downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee park for seven years was told to move their operations to a new location.
In 2005, a Baltimore, Maryland city health worker used a food service requirement to stop a group of Loyola College students from sharing food with homeless people in a location near City Hall.
In Denver, Colorado mass feedings are not permitted in city parks. John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, said that he used to bring food to a homeless man who lived near him, but then he “began to realize the amount of harm that just giving food or money to homeless people does.”
Fort Lauderdale, Florida police threatened to arrest anyone who attempted to continue a weekly food sharing program called Food Not Bombs. The Fort Lauderdale ordinance actually prohibits the providing of “food, clothing, shelter or medical care to persons in order to meet their physical needs.”
I can go through every State and Commonwealth in our Union and provide at least one example of a city or municipal ordinance that makes it illegal to feed, clothe, or give aid and comfort to a homeless person.
Is our society and our government so god damned ashamed of the poor in this country that they are willing to punish even those who seek to make their lives a little more tolerable?
Don’t let this continue. Help me stop this madness. Check your city ordinances and let’s protest this assault on basic human dignity and the right to food.
NOTES
Las Vegas, Nev., Code of Ordinances, ch. 13.36, art. I, § 13.36.055 (2007).
Wilmington, N.C., Code of Ordinances ch. 11, art. III, § 11-47 (2007).
Orlando, Fla., Code of Ordinances, ch. 18A, § 18A.01 (2007).
Dallas City Code § 17-10.2.
Chattanooga, Tenn., City Code, ch. 26, art. I, §§ 26-13, 26-14 (2007).
Fulton County, Ga., Code of Ordinances ch. 34, art. V, §§ 34-151, 34-152 (2007).
Baltimore, Md., Health Code, tit. 6, §§ 6-101, 6-201 (2007).
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Park Rules and Regs., § 2.2 (2007), available here:
http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/life/rules.htm.
Willoughby Mariano, Activist Arrested While Feeding Homeless in Downtown Orlando
Orlando Sentinel, April 4, 2007, available here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-bk-homeless-
040507,0,1876560.story?coll=orl-home-headlines.
Pam Sohn & David Flessner, Mayor Wants Ministry for Homeless People Moved Out of Miller Park
Chattanooga Times Free Press, May 24, 2007, available here:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/local.aspx?articleid=15764&zoneid=77.
Patrick O’Driscoll, Parking Meters Make a Change for the Needy
USA Today, October 18, 2007, at 3A.
Do Not Feed The Homeless
Have you ever thought about sharing your lunch with a homeless person? Better check your local ordinances or you could find yourself in legal trouble.
MCN: B83-KTOP-8882
Helen Bascom KMA, 4 months ago
This work was originally published in my journal.
clone42, 4 months ago
Hmmm…
Food for thought.
Makes me glad to be a kiwi.
Jim Caldwell, 4 months ago
Damn !
Wendy Slee KMA, 4 months ago
I cannot believe how low humanity can stoop
Estelle O'Brien, 4 months ago
What kind of shallow, selfish, mad, society do we have? If you can judge a society by the way it treats it’s most vulnerable members, we should all be ashamed. I felt ashamed reading this and I’m not even American.
Robert Knapman, 4 months ago
The problem is created. Responses to the problem occur. Responses are made illegal. The problem continues or gets worse…....
Jaybe, 4 months ago
I work with homeless young people in England so this horrified me. I love travelling to the USA but the politics there astound me.
Incognita, 4 months ago
Richest country on earth! Home of the brave land of the free…
Hollow laugh…
With a Third World nation festering in its very heart… ignored, denied, intentionally forgotten. And now legislation to perpetuate the pain and the suffering.
Until US people stop treating poverty as a moral and ethical failing on the part of the sufferer, they will continue to punish those who are victims of it.
Sean Farragher, 4 months ago
crazy
Susan Epps Oliver, 4 months ago
Well, if I come across someone who’s hungry, I will feed them. Period . The law is an ass !
lepreskil, 4 months ago
My MA graduate eldest son has been working with the homeless in the UK for several years and I have sent him the article. It is atrocious how we treat the homeless many of whom are as we would be but for the grace of God.
caroline caux-..., 4 months ago
This is outragging! I never realized that kind of thing couyld happen in the States!Its mind blowing.Thanks for sharing this with us.
nikspix, 4 months ago
It’s a cold age . . .
Hoffard, 4 months ago
So crooked! In Montana they throw people on the street in the dead of winter with no money… So they freeze! You are right they have a way of sweeping them under the rug!
pryere, 4 months ago
A big news item yesterday was, do not give beggars money, as they just go and spend it on drugs!
I admire and applaude you for highlighting the situation.
London
hotbeetees, 4 months ago
Bigotry against the poor is endemic, trans-national, and somehow unacknowledged even by the rampant PC brigade. For other bigotries we have clear labels: racism, misogyny, ageism…
This sort of apparently Government sanctioned bigotry is appalling. My country, Australia, is full of inequity, though there is an enduring myth is of a unique nationality-defining egalitarianism we like to believe in and wave about in discussions about ourselves like a fucking flag. But while the Fed and State governments do not actively enough address the inequities that make our myth of egalitarianism a fairytale, I know of none of the sorts of measures you claim to be in operation in the US, Helen, to actually prevent the poor from receiving voluntary assistance in some instances. This is the mark of a country that lacks a basic humanity towards its own people, that makes poverty a sin, and the poor pariahs on an official level. Reminds me of the notion of the Untouchable caste in India.
People like you keep the fires of humanity burning in the dark heart of once-great America. I salute you.
America is now probably the most hated country on the planet. It is vital that we remain mindful that there are great things, past and present, about your country and its contribution to our world, and that America is not its fucking government and its leaders – it is the PEOPLE. And people like you are good people. And I have no doubt there are many like you. But there is a crying need for some visionary leadership to put America back on track. Unfortunately, I don’t see any evidence of that leadership emerging in either the Democrat or Republican presidential candidates. Which makes people like you even more significant and vital to your country’s and the world’s future. Some will mock that statement as grandiose or melodramatic. They are those who do not understand that our humanity is our ONLY hope.
hotbeetees, 4 months ago
Goddamn- when is Red Bubble going to give us a bloody edit function? I inevitably make typos or cut and paste incorrectly, then recoil when I see how it appears when published. Come one RB, it can’t be THAT difficult? Edit functions are standard on most forums and message boards.
Vimm, 4 months ago
Glad you shared your experience. I like many others didnt know of the extent of the problem and the extent of laws that allow such dilemmas to prosper. Good work
Gregory John O..., 4 months ago
Horrible to think that The United States of America can abandon its’ own people to go and fight an illegal war. Half the money spent so far would probably house all the homeless. Instead of pandering to China, and allowing industry to set uop there costing jobs at home, start to see that Americas’ “Interests” are its’ people at home, not the corporate profits of just a greedy few.
What would happen if Christ held the Surmon on the Mount there today; would he be breaking the law having people eat others food ?
The security of the homeless would go along way to securing the whole world. Less poverty would bring less friction and crime. Apply the same philosophy to the rest of the world. Peoples supported and included in the wealth and abundance of the world, would obviously create more harmony and less violence and alienation.
Freedom does not come with, nor is it guarenteed by, the vote. it comes from the will and joy of sharing the wonder of the creation.
Peace Love Tolerance
Helen Bascom KMA in reply to Gregory John O'Flaherty’s comment, 4 months ago
What would happen if Christ held the Surmon on the Mount there today; would he be breaking the law having people eat others food ?
Most likely he would placed on a terrorist watch list and eventually dragged off to be subjected to torture and interrogation, just as he was more than 2000 years ago.
Luke Luther, 3 months ago
Helen, this was really good. The discussion needs to be heard and re-heard. It is even worse in a cold climate like Minneapolis. We now have no trespassing signs on our freeway ramps so that panhandling is illegal. We chase them out of our warm buildings during the day so as not to offend the patrons; we hustle them out of public places lest they should fall asleep. We are ignorant of the very truth that the papers show us daily. How many Bear Stearns employees now have a new perspective on “The Homeless”?
Pamela Ward, 3 months ago
I once heard a mayor of a city refer to homeless in his city is pigeons . What no sorry they are not pigeons they are humans .Humans who need help to get their lives back .People who deserve to be clothed to be feed . How dare he say such a thing ..he never had to walk in their shoes or wonder what dumpster his meal is gonna come from .Poeople look down their noses at homelessness and pretend it’s not there but you know the scary thing is that it can happen to anyone at anytime .Some people could just be a payday away from it .
What ever happened to humanity ??What happened to taking care of thu brother ?Some many things play factors to why someone ends up homeless.We should put on someone elses shoes for a while and see how we could cope with not eating for long periods , no place to call your own ,no security ,no comfort ,no clean clothes no luxuries…it would be hard as hell so the next time anyone walks down their nose maybe they could think of a productive way to help a fellow human being out .
Pamela Ward, 3 months ago
Wow I wish these places would spend the money that they get from these laws to help the homeless .To bad more effort didn’t go to more towards helping homeless and less on taking anything left that homeless might have .
Helen Bascom KMA in reply to Pamela Ward’s comment, 3 months ago
It becomes easier to abuse another human being when their humanity is removed and they become objects. Your example of the homeless that city being called “pigeons” is a perfect example of the dehumanization that precedes inhumane laws like the ones discussed here.
If you remember the name of that Mayor and the city, please send me the information. I’ll find a newspaper report about it and post it here. Thank you so much for your contribution.
Pamela Ward, 3 months ago
mayor obrien ottawa canada or do a search for stop feeding the pigeons ottawa
Helen Bascom KMA, 3 months ago
Dehumanizing remarks
Kelly KMA Berm..., 3 months ago
I think it is deplorable that this is going on. It is truly unimaginable. We certainly do not here of this stuff in Australia. I tell you what Helen, over here they still have “soup Kitchens” – every morning in a few sites around the city volunteers turn up and feed the homeless. In so many ways Australia is mimicking the US. (when they are’nt mimicking the UK) God help us if we go down that road – Australia is about Mateship and helping the underdog as I am sure are the vast majority of Americans who still feel the same (except the friggin pollies). I say stuff them – keep feeding them – what sort of human being would we be if we didn’t!!!!! Absoloute bollocks!!!
hotbeetees, 3 months ago
Rather idealised vision of Australia there, Kelly. The sort of official outlawing of the impoverished that Helen refers to is not yet a reality, but that myth of mateship and egalitarianism is challenged daily by the rampant greed, consumerism, selfishness and intolerance that has become endemic. Not to mention the ever-widening chasm between those who are thriving and those who are being left further and further behind.
I’d suggest that mateship and helping the underdog stuff is fading into legend and history. This is not the place it was even 10 years ago. We are not so many steps behind America down the road to inhumanity.
Sara Lamond, 3 months ago
I can only imagine that this sort of a law would increase crime , as the homeless would then be forced to steal to eat. Sometimes the head in the sand reaction is just sooooo sad.
amarica, 3 months ago
Good for you. Tell it like it is Helen.
Victoria Smith, 2 months ago
The truth about these laws are to make the homeless disappear, they are to make tourist comfortable. The truth about the rising homeless is a lot of them are mentally ill, how many times do you hear of services being closed down for the mentally ill? They are expected to commit a crime and go to prison for treatment, which is not safe for the public. I have to wait for someone to kill me to be safe from him? I speak from experience about this subject. The other homeless are usually former military, and I have read that family homelessness is on the rise. Of course it is under this blankety blank economy. I have a saying “it cost more to be poor than rich”. The rich don’t take high interest loans, the rich incurr interest in their bank accounts and the more money the more interest. The whole established credit worthiness system (credit reports) is a joke. They are not for everyone just the poor people so they can claim you are a higher risk and charge more for the loan. When a poor sap manages to get ahead and buy property we face the fact that we are regulated by our housing. If mudhuts in Africa can raise a family they certainly can do it here too! Forcing people to buy trailer houses or contract a home build because they are unexperienced builders is ridiculous. Humanity has survived because a factory can build you a trailer? Did cavemen have these? Ok I could go on and on forever, but I will stop. Thanks for listening.