Houston Activists and Concerned Citizens Win the Battle Against the City's Proposed Homeless Feeding Ordinance

As part of a growing trend, with similar ordinances recently passing in Philadelphia and New York City, Democrat Anise Parker with City Council proposed making it a crime for community groups, such as Food Not Bombs and a number of religious organizations to prepare food and distribute it in public spaces to the city's homeless. There are approximately 10,000 homeless individuals are on the streets of Houston on any given night, with 3,000 falling into the category of 'chronically homeless' and 1 in 4 who are under the age of 18. Critics of the ordinance showed up en masse on Tuesday, March 20th to challenge the proposal as it is currently written. While the war is not over, with a revised version of the ordinance set to come for a vote at the end of the month, the delay in a vote is certainly something to celebrate.