Nanny State Update: Houston Stops Homeless Outreach to Feed the Poor — Gotta Have a Government-Issued Permit
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 16, 2011
Homeless man cuddling dog - Houston government officials have shutdown outreach program that feeds the homeless
Here’s another example of bloated, arrogant, Nanny State government bureaucracy to hinder or prevent Good Samaritans from helping to feed America’s homeless and needy during this economic crisis unless they have expensive, difficult-to-obtain government permits and adhere to stringent government regulations. Letting the nation’s homeless and poor go hungry seems to be less important than having government oversight, funded not by donations, but by taxpayers.
I’ve written before about this happening in Miami — now it’s happening in Houston with the shutdown of the commendable “Feed a Friend” program.
Senseless, typical, and, dare I say it, cruel.
From Houston Chronicle, City puts a stop to homeless outreach:
Bobby and Amanda Herring spent more than a year providing food to homeless people in downtown Houston every day. They fed them, left behind no trash and doled out warm meals peacefully without a single crime being committed, Bobby Herring said.
That ended two weeks ago when the city shut down their “Feed a Friend” effort for lack of a permit. And city officials say the couple most likely will not be able to obtain one.
“We don’t really know what they want, we just think that they don’t want us down there feeding people,” said Bobby Herring, a Christian rapper who goes by the stage name Tre9.
Anyone serving food for public consumption, whether for the homeless or for sale, must have a permit, said Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department. To get that permit, the food must be prepared in a certified kitchen with a certified food manager.
The regulations are all the more essential in the case of the homeless, Barton said, because “poor people are the most vulnerable to foodborne illness and also are the least likely to have access to health care.”
Bobby Herring said those rules would preclude them from continuing to feed the 60 to 120 people they assisted nightly for more than a year. The food had been donated from area businesses and prepared in various kitchens by volunteers or by his wife.
He and his wife became involved in the effort several years ago, when she would take leftover food from work to the homeless downtown. From there, it expanded into a full-time effort for her working through Eyes on Me, the Herrings’ nonprofit organization that focuses on Christian-themed youth outreach efforts.
Nearly every day last year, they distributed food prepared or donated by volunteers or local stores at 6 p.m. at the corner of Commerce and San Jacinto, near the Harris County Jail, Bobby Herring said.
[...]
Because city ordinances would prevent them from obtaining the needed permit, Bobby Herring said he is hoping to find a new solution, perhaps working through a church with a permit or finding a downtown location that would allow them to continue to help the homeless.
Amanda Herring said she was frustrated at the city’s sudden stance.
“I’m just really sad,” she said. “I can’t believe for a year we were right out in the open and never had anybody tell us to leave, to stop, to tell us it was wrong. I’m blindsided with it.”
Connie Boyd, president and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, applauded the Herrings’ efforts but defended the city’s stance.
“We absolutely need more people like them who care about this vulnerable population,” Boyd said. “Even though their intentions are good, they ran into ordinances that are designed to protect the public. There are good reasons why they’re in place.”
Boyd said the Herrings, or any like-minded individuals, could use her organization to connect with more than 200 groups and agencies that provide aid to the homeless and possibly stake out a partnership.
Barton said city officials in the past had considered passing a “public feeding” ordinance that would make it easier for people like the Herrings to comply with rules designed to protect people’s health and well being. The ordinance could involve easier and cheaper permitting processes, she said, although there had not been discussion of the matter for some time.
City Councilwoman Wanda Adams, who has been an advocate for the homeless during her tenure, said she planned to review the ordinance. She reiterated the importance of the city’s rules but applauded the efforts of the Herrings.
From CNN, Homeless outreach mission ‘in limbo’ after Houston shuts it down over food permit:
Bobby Herring said the homeless outreach program he and his wife run is in jeopardy after health officials in Houston shut it down because the operation didn’t have a permit to serve food.
As MLK Day, typically a big day for outreach programs, approaches, Herring, a missionary and Christian rapper, said bureaucratic red tape has caused his program, Feed a Friend, to languish after 15 months of serving hot meals to the area homeless.
“It’s not us against them (health officials),” Herring said. “All we want is a solution to get back in action. We’re definitely not trying to start a fire, but I can’t get the health department to call us back so we’re kind of in limbo.”
Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department, told CNN that the Herrings have not pursued a permit to serve food, at least not through the proper channels. “The Houston Health Department has had no interactions with the Herrings,” she said in an e-mail Friday.
Herring and his wife, Amanda, have been down to the city’s Health Department and have left messages with an official who has yet to call them back, Herring told CNN in a phone interview Friday.
From Gather, The Homeless Go Hungry Because Of Heartless Regulation:
The homeless in Houston, for more than a year, have had meals provided to them by Amanda and Bobby Herring. Herring, a Christian Rapper who performs under the name Tre9, was shut down for not having a permit to distribute food. City leaders have cast doubt that he will ever be able to receive a permit.
For Herring, and others like him, acts of charity are a natural part of their religious beliefs. The prohibition to feed the poor by the city of Houston not only stifles their free practice of religion, but takes food out of the mouths of the hungry. The heartlessness of bureaucratic red tape is highlighted in this absurd ruling.
The city states this is to protect the homeless who are more susceptible to food borne illnesses and more likely to not have health coverage. Apparently, the city leaders in Houston, would rather these unfortunate people go hungry than allow a non-licensed provider to feed them.
Government intervention in the lives of its citizens always ends poorly. Though many of these laws were created in an attempt to protect us from ourselves, in the end they ultimately harm someone. When the government intercedes in our lives, it is always inflexible and without compassion. Cutting off meals to the homeless to protect them from the possibility of illness is tantamount to treating a splinter in ones finger by cutting off your hand. There is no end to bureaucratic nonsense.
The solution here is for the government to get out of the way and let Americans be Americans. No other nation has produced entrepreneurs who are able to solve problems through creative and logical means. That creativity is quashed when politicians think they know better than those who are actually making a difference. So the homeless in Houston will have one less avenue of relief, thanks to the cold-hearted ruling of the city leaders.
From Yahoo! News, Houston Stops ‘Feed a Friend’ Program that Provided Meals to Homeless:
The city of Houston has shut down “Feed a Friend,” according to the Houston Chronicle, because they lacked the proper permit to give food to other people. Nor, because of the nature of their operation, are they likely to get one.
To get the permit that the city of Houston demands, the food given out by the Herrings must be prepared in a certified kitchen under the supervision of a certified food manager. “Feed a Friend” relied on food donated by local business and prepared by Amanda Herring and various volunteers in various private kitchens.
The excuse the city of Houston has given for requiring a permit with such requirements is that the poor are more susceptible to food borne illnesses and very often lack access to proper health care. The city provided no proof that “Feed a Friend” has ever given anyone food poisoning, however, in the year it has operated, first on the corner of Commerce and San Jacinto, near the Harris County Jail then, at the request of the Police, under an overpass at Commerce and Travis streets.
…[T]he situation that the Herrings find themselves in is illustrative of how government very often gets in the way of ordinary people who want to help others in need. Instead of encouraging people like Bobby and Amanda Herring to do what they do which, by the way, would help relieve the strain on government services, the government passes laws and imposes regulations that have the unintended consequence of allowing some of the homeless to go hungry.
Adherence to the rules, even when they make no sense, is a hallmark of a bureaucracy, especially one run by a government. Getting the rules changed is often a long, frustrating process. Bureaucrats do not like change. Change is bad and unsettling.
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Can’t blame the government, blame the lawyers. I have a friend who runs a food bank. She has had a couple of shysters try to shake them down, but darn it if they don’t have all the proper permits. We’re not being over-governed, we’re being over-lawyered. It’s the same reason so many schools and churches no longer have bake sales.
“Over-lawyered” – excellent point made. And ironically (but not all that ironically), many of our politicians have law degrees. Imagine the days after WWII when hungry, unemployed men would knock on a door in surburia USA and ask the woman of the house for a sandwich in exchange for sweeping the front porch or mowing the lawn. Nowadays, without a government-issued permit, no food for anyone.