A federal judge sided with a Dayton nonprofit that sued the city after one of its members was arrested in 2024 for distributing food to homeless people downtown.
Southern District of Ohio Judge Thomas Rose ruled Tuesday, June 24, that a city ordinance requiring a permit to distribute food, clothing, or toiletries in public in downtown Dayton is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
The ruling came in a case filed by Nourish Our Neighbors, a Dayton-based nonprofit that provides food and supplies to the homeless at “feedings” which occur around once per month.
The lawsuit was filed by NON in November 2024, months after an incident in which a member of NON assisting at a food distribution event in Courthouse Square was arrested after continuing to give out food after being warned by police officers. The suit alleged that the ordinance was unconstitutional on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds.
Community members gave out food and other items at Courthouse Square in downtown on April 7, 2024. Police arrested a 25-year-old man for distributing food after the group was warned they could not give out food and items without a city permit. This image is from body camera footage of the incident. CONTRIBUTED
Judge Rose granted summary judgment in favor of NON on First Amendment grounds, and in favor of the city of Dayton in terms of the Fourteenth Amendment. Rose ordered that the ordinance stop being enforced.
“This case was about a very simple injustice: People wanted to make their community better, and the government said, ‘Not without my permission,’” said Anastasia Boden, director of constitutional scholarship at Pacific Legal Foundation in a press release Wednesday. “This ruling vindicates Dayton residents’ right to speak freely and to be kind without a permit.”
Three key points in the suit were the lack of enforcement of the ordinance, its vague wording, and the cost of the application.
According to Rose, only two citations under the ordinance were issued since it was enacted in 2005, “both against NON members and both for operating permitless events.” He wrote further that both citations were issued for lack of a permit, rather than interference with public health or safety.
During Dayton Police Commander Jason Hall’s deposition, he indicated that the ordinance would not be forced against “one person giving their leftover taco to a homeless person in the downtown area without a permit,” nor “if a family hosted a birthday party in Courthouse Square and distributed food, even if that family included 100 members,” although both scenarios would be illegal under the ordinance.
NON’s attorneys argued that the vagueness of the line between enforcement and non-enforcement meant that the ordinance could be enforced arbitrarily.
Applications for a one-time permit cost $50. NON argued that the fees would have prohibited it from carrying out at least one feeding event each year had it applied.
The city of Dayton did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Dining and Cooking