Ohio pastor criminally charged for offering shelter.
The modern cult of the omnipotent state produces multitudinous inequities. Modern government regulations require licenses, certifications, and permits to offer any services to anyone. Zoning laws prohibit a facility designated as a one-bedroom home from partitioning a living room into two bedrooms, and prohibit facilities from offering lodging or food without extensive and expensive government permission.
Anyone who has traveled the world quickly notices that homeless people are everywhere in the U.S., but almost nonexistent elsewhere. This is because American regulation makes it illegal to help the homeless in any way that matters.
Now the USA Today reports that “as folks freeze to death in the Midwest, an Ohio pastor is charged for offering shelter.” At least three homeless men are known to have died from exposure during the recent Midwest cold snap, but “Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place in Bryan, Ohio, was arraigned in court last Thursday because he kept his church open 24/7 to provide warmth to the unhoused.”
“Ohio law prohibits residential use in first-floor buildings in a business district. Since the church is zoned as a Central Business, the building is restricted from allowing people to eat or sleep on the property.”
According to the city, during a New Year’s Eve service, police arrived and issued violations.
USA TODAY reported in December that the nation’s unhoused population grew by 12% in 2023, reaching nearly a record 654,000 people. This despite record government spending on all aspects of the problem.
