But the services for homeless people began to rankle residents living near St. Timothy’s, who complained of trespassing, littering and noise in their neighborhood, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The residents sent the city a petition in April asking for the church’s homeless services to end.
In October, the City Council approved an ordinance creating a permit for “benevolent meal service” and restricting it to twice per week. The only nonprofits in Brookings offering free meals to homeless people are churches, according to OPB.
Neighbors are consistently the largest impediment to helping the poor.
But the services for homeless people began to rankle residents living near St. Timothy’s, who complained of trespassing, littering and noise in their neighborhood,
While I disagree with the ordinance, if the church is going to do it, they have a responsibility to be good neighbors as well. As do the beneficiaries of the service.
One of the many consequences of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 was a spike in food insecurity across the United States. The nonprofit organization Feeding America estimated that 45 million people, including 15 million children, were food insecure that year.
May The Lord Bless all those that give their best efforts, in being a blessing unto others for this, is what it’s all about.
My first question here would be…did the residents attempt to communicate with the church first before they went to the city?
To talk about the concerns and come up with ways to mitigate them?
I can’t make any judgements until I can find out about that.
If it didn’t happen, that’s quite sad. Neighbors should always try, where possible, to hash out their own differences first before involving legal authorities.
The restrictions come after dozens of residents complained last year that “vagrants” living in or congregating around the church had caused problems in the community including “criminal trespassing, theft, harassment, drug possession, littering, disorderly conduct, physical altercation,” among others, according to a petition signed last spring.
According to local media reports, Lindley has pointed at rocketing housing prices, along with the pandemic’s impact on financial and mental health, as worsening an already pressing issue of people without a place to live.
Brookings, like other West Coast towns and cities, have said they are overwhelmed by an unprecedented rise in homeless people, often living in squalid encampments.
It is hard weaving through abandoned shopping carts, broken down cars and limping red light baggers…
My heart goes out to the homeless, but many are self destructing. We need to get the insane in places to care for them and get the drug addicted out of here.
