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Ohio pastor charged for housing the homeless (wng.org)

submitted 2 years ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

this is a classic example of how policing as an institution is broken and should be completely destroyed in its current form, or outright abolished

In March 2023, Avell decided the church would help with overflow from the local homeless shelter next door. He said the church has helped about 100 homeless people in the small city in northwestern Ohio.

By opening his doors for overnight accommodations, Avell violated city zoning laws. Dad’s Place is in a C-3 Central Business District, which prohibits residential usage, Police Chief Gregory Ruskey said in a December statement. Ruskey said the city informed Avell about the zoning violations and notified him of several fire code infractions.

In November, the city of Bryan sent a letter to Avell and Dad’s Place, ordering him to stop allowing overnight guests or face criminal prosecution, according to a First Liberty Institute news release. Avell continued to keep the doors open even after Bryan police came to Dad’s Place and served him a packet of charges on New Year’s Eve. Zoning violations can carry a fine of up to $1,000 per day under Bryan city ordinances.

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[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

C-3 Central Business District, which prohibits residential usage

Can someone explain the reasoning behind that?

I can understand "no business noise at night in residential zones", but the reverse looks like total nonsense: "no sleeping in the office"... WTF?

[–] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Housing laws are complex and weird and in many cases laws are based on case precedent or specific things happening in an area. They vary greatly from state to state and often include archaic provisions. They also don't garner a ton of attention from the media, so things sometimes get passed in large bills that are weird one-offs because someone who's involved in voting on the bill who was important asks for or inserts something due to a particular bias or belief.

[–] alyaza@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

Arbitrary Lines is a good, basic primer to the subject and has a bunch of examples/case studies to this end. a lot of modern city zoning--although this might not be true in this case--is just a vast accumulation of exemptions and changes to accommodate one specific property or building with no particular rhyme or reason other than "this was needed to fulfill the intended development at the time"