Dallas Outlaws Crimes of Compassion

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-09-20 06:09:00 UTC
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When homeless shelters are overcrowded and people are forced to sleep on the streets, acts of charity are usually welcome. That is, unless you're in Dallas. The city has outlawed feeding the homeless in all parts of the city, except four designated areas.

That's right, acts that are widely accepted as charitable and generous are, in Dallas, illegal.

The city claims the restrictions are in place to promote health and safety. The permanent food service locations must meet certain requirements in order to serve food to the homeless, like having on-site restrooms and running water. Thus, there are only four locations in the entire city that meet these standards. Any off-site food stations must be inspected by the city's Environmental and Health Services Department.

Certainly, food sanitation is important to those on the receiving end of donated food. And in a perfect world, such stringent regulations might make sense. But clearly, this is not the case in Dallas.

Just over one year ago, Dallas opened an innovative one-stop hub of homeless services called the Bridge. Thing is, the Bridge hasn't been able to keep up with the demand for shelter beds. So every night, people without a home are turned away because there aren't enough shelter beds to meet the need. Thing is, when you're denied a bed at the Bridge, you're also denied access to a designated feeding zone. You're on the streets, and you don't have access to food. Double-whammy.

Are these food service regulations really for sanitary services, or is this another case of controlling homeless people by hoarding them to certain areas of the city? And if health issues were really so important to city officials, wouldn't sleeping on the streets fall into the "unsanitary" category? Finally, in times of crisis, when the number of shelter beds can't meet the demand, shouldn't meeting the basic needs of the worst off among us take precedent over anything else?

One last question: Is it just me, or does Dallas need a priority check?

Image from Ed Yourdon's public Flickr photo stream.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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