Heartless bureaucrats criminalise feeding of the poor

[Speelgoedmannetje]

The register makes parodies, AFAIK

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Cymric wrote:

GadgetMaster wrote:
What has society come to when feeding the homeless is a crime?    :-?

I can think of a few reasons. First, there's food safety issues. I'm sure the generous person wasn't intending on giving the homeless a belly ache, but the rules for larger scale food preparation are a lot more stringent. Second, there is always the risk that some homeless people swap their food for alcohol or drugs, adding to the problem instead of solving it. I immediately admit this is highly unlikely, especially if you give them, say, an apple or an orange. However, I do know that in Rotterdam the local government began actively telling people not to give to beggars and homeless directly, but instead to give to the registered charities and instances which dealt with these poor sods. Because then they'd have a means of making sure that the homeless could be helped effectively---in other words, get them into a plan of sorts with the ultimate aim to get them off the street completely.

My reasons might appear contrived, but in their own way, they're quite valid.

It's about the US, Cymric, not the Netherlands...