"A Houston city ordinance — on the books since 2012 — makes it a crime to serve food to more than five people in need without permission from a property owner or the city. Houston began enforcing this rule in March 2023, targeting Food Not Bombs' long-running meal events. The group and its lawyers say this violates their right to free speech and freedom of association. Their food-sharing events are also a form of protest — a way of standing in solidarity with unhoused Houstonians."
Food Not Bombs Houston, a grassroots group that has fed unhoused people near Houston's downtown library for over 20 years, filed a lawsuit against the City of Houston. The Texas Civil Rights Project filed the case, arguing the city violated the group's First Amendment rights by enforcing a food-sharing ordinance. The city issued more than 90 citations to volunteers for feeding people in need at weekly meal events. Two volunteers were also arrested and one was tased.
Food Not Bombs Houston, the grassroots collective that has been feeding unhoused people near Houston's downtown library for more than two decades, filed a lawsuit against the City of Houston Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project alleges the city violated the organization's First Amendment rights by enforcing an anti-food sharing ordinance since March last year. The city has in the past year used the ordinance to crack down on the longtime organization, issuing the collective more than 90 citations for feeding unhoused people during the organization's weekly meal service.
At least 10 of those citations have been released since August, despite city leaders vowing to crack down harder on the city's food-sharing ordinance.
TCRP Staff Attorney Randy Hiroshige said the ordinance requires permission from a private property owner or the city on public property to serve charitable meals.
"We're trying to strike down this ordinance. The Anti-Food Sharing Ordinance, it makes it a crime to serve food to more than five people in need," he said.
Hiroshige said Food Not Bombs is also a protest group, and the organization shares food to show solidarity with unhoused Houstonians.
"Their food-sharing events are a way of expressing their beliefs, their political beliefs, and like giving a vision of what a community based on mutual aid looks like," he said.
"The anti-food sharing ordinance, therefore, imposes an unconstitutional restriction on expressive association as applied to (Food Not Bombs), because the city has acted and threatened to act under the color of state law to deprive (Food Not Bombs) of rights secured by the First Amendment," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit reflects the organization's longtime fight to maintain its mission to provide basic necessities to those in need of them.
"You cannot keep prosecuting these people for sharing food with people who need it," he said. "… We filed this case to make sure that Food Not Bombs has and will continue to do what it's been doing and continue to serve the community of Houston... without the burden of prosecution and policing."
Police have still been patrolling food-sharing events even after the new administration, Hiroshige said. Two volunteers were arrested in early January and one was tased during an event.
Hiroshige said his team is feeling confident about their case because of a similar case in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
"The city of Fort Lauderdale attempted to make it illegal to share food and public parks without having the city's advance permission. And ultimately, the 11th circuit court of appeals struck down that ordinance as unconstitutional because it was severely restricting Fort Lauderdale's Food Not Bombs chapter from hosting their food sharings in public parks," he said.
The ordinance in Houston was introduced in 2012 and prohibits people from feeding more than five people on public or private property unless permission is given by the property owners, but the "Charitable Food Services" ordinance introduced by former mayor Annise Parker permits "food without charge, payment or other compensation to benefit those in need at an outdoor location not owned, leased or controlled by the individual or organization providing the food."
The organization has in the past argued that Parker gave the organization permission to continue its services at the downtown library location, but city leaders have maintained that there is only one location permitted for meal distribution: a police station at 61 Riesner Street outside of downtown Houston.
Houston Police Department began enforcing the 2012 ordinance last year, issuing a large number of citations to organizers and volunteers operating outside of the downtown library.
"The City's attempt to criminalize food sharing not only violates the First Amendment but also perpetuates cycles of poverty and hunger," according to a Texas Civil Rights Project press release.
The TCRP also sent a petition with over 100,000 signatures in support of Food Not Bombs to city council and Mayor John Whitmire earlier this month. Hiroshige said he had hoped the new administration would take the petition into consideration.
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- Read the full Houston Public Media article to get the complete story
- Learn more about Food Not Bombs Houston and their weekly meal events
- Visit the Texas Civil Rights Project website to follow the lawsuit's progress
- Share this story with neighbors who care about food access and civil rights in Houston
- Contact Houston City Council if you want to weigh in on the ordinance
- Look for local mutual aid groups if you want to volunteer or donate food in your community
