Feeding the homeless now a crime in Las Vegas
Politicians in Las Vegas have made it a crime to feed the homeless in the city’s parks.
Under the new law, which comes into effect today, anyone offering sustenance to “the indigent” will be acting illegally – and risking a $1,000 (€785) fine and six months in jail.
Several other American cities have adopted or considered rules limiting the distribution of free food in parks by restricting it to certain times or areas.
But Las Vegas is thought to be the first to explicitly make it an offence to give food out to the poor, according to the New York Times.
The city’s homeless population has doubled in the past decade to about 12,000.
Officials said the ban was not aimed at casual handouts from Good Samaritans, the newspaper reported, but at so-called “mobile soup kitchens“.
It was devised after residents complained that the large numbers of people gathering to use such services make it impossible for other residents to use the parks, city spokesman David Riggleman said.
He added that ending the soup kitchens’ operations would encourage homeless people to go to a centre or charity offering services such as mental health evaluations or job placements.
“We’re trying to empathise with both camps,” Mr Riggleman said.
“We’re hoping we can improve their lives and improve the lives of people living around the park, some of whom have people urinating and defecating in front of their door.”
But Gail Sacco, who operates a mobile soup kitchen seven days a week, said the city’s homeless services were inadequate and she would not give up her mission.
“There’s no way for people to get out to those services in triple-digit weather,” she said.
“My plan is to do anything I feel is needed to keep these people alive.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which opposed the ordinance, is preparing a legal challenge, the New York Times said.
Allen Lichtenstein, the group’s general counsel, branded the measure absurd, saying it was an unconstitutional infringement on free assembly and other rights.
