LA clergy group: Halt Skid Row street feedings

Los Angeles Times: LA clergy group: Halt Skid Row street feedings

LOS ANGELES—A group of downtown clergy members has taken the unusual step of publicly urging other religious organizations to stop feeding homeless people on the streets of Skid Row, saying the effort is well meaning but misguided.

The Downtown Clergy Council, which comprises faith-based leaders from a variety of churches, synagogues and homeless ministries, released a position paper on the longstanding issue earlier this month as a way to raise public awareness that giving away food from the backs of trucks and vans to the down-and-out is not as helpful as it would seem.

Much of the food and wrappings end up in the gutter, creating a trash and vermin problem, while three nearby missions serve 8,000 free meals a day.

On top of that, feeding people on the street takes away the incentive for people to go into the missions, where they can also find everything from toilets to addiction recovery services to help them get off the street.

"They're enabling people to stay in the streets," said Kevin Haah, pastor of New City Church of LA who is president of the council. "It actually backfires in many ways."...

... The clergy members are instead recommending that groups give away bottled water, because people will drink the water and recycle the bottles, as well as hygiene kits, containing items such as soap and toothpaste, which tend to be used rather than dumped. They can also work with missions to decide how to best direct their efforts, they said. ...

Another example of the unintended consequences from good intentions. Ministry of this type requires warm hearts and cool heads. The warm hearts are there, but cool heads must think holistically.