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Sept. 18, 2018 |  By: Connor Raabe

ACLU comes down on panhandling laws which make it illegal to ask for help

The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, and more than a dozen other organizations have recently targeted 12 states for their panhandling ordinances, Iowa being one of the 12. These organizations demand Iowa cities repeal laws that prohibit panhandlers from asking people on the street for money. The Iowa A-C-L-U chapter identified ordinances in three cities: Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Grimes. Philip Brown with A-C-L-U of Iowa says such laws essentially criminilaze poverty.

"These laws make it illegal to ask for help.  They are resticitions on any individual's free speech rights to go on a sidewalk and say what they like.  They are restricitions based what you're saying and where you are."

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to eradicating homelessness. More than 240 panhandling ordinances in a dozen states have been targeted. Brown notes the recent case of Alexis Ostlund, a homeless woman who was told by a police officer she had to stop asking for donations as she held up a "free hugs" sign outside a Des Moines coffee shop. He says such behavior would perpetuate a downward spiral of poverty.

"These laws are simply not solutions.  They don't solve any problems.  Housing and services really are the only solutions to homelessness.  It's actually penalizing people just for needing help and for asking for it."

The A-C-L-U says 25 panhandling ordinances in the U.S. have been deemed unconstitutional and 31 cities have repealed their ordinances. Brown believes the lack of consistency in municipal ordinances has harmful consequences.