New Gig Harbor Law Makes Giving To Panhandlers A Crime

GIG HARBOR, WA - Three months in jail or a $1,000 fine for giving to panhandlers from your car? That's the penalty under a Gig Harbor ordinance passed Monday by City Council Monday that criminalizes handouts in specific parts of the city.

Police Chief Kelly Busey told the Tacoma News Tribune, which first reported on the ordinance, that the law is about traffic safety. The ordinance bans stopping to give handouts within 200 feet of roundabouts and overpasses, and within 500 feet of the busy Olympic Drive and Point Fosdick Drive intersection.

"If people stop their cars on these busy roads to hand out goods, it causes accidents," Busey told the News Tribune.

Cities around the nation have created laws that effectively criminalize homelessness. In July, Tacoma made it illegal to camp on public property and to use a parking space for more than 72 hours. Seattle has been criticized for sweeping homeless encampments, and was sued over how the city handles possessions left behind by the homeless after a sweep.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a legal brief advising that it's unconstitutional for cities to ban activities like sleeping in public. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty told NPR in 2015such laws jam up the criminal justice system.

"[Y]ou make homeless people into criminals, and then you have the criminal justice system dealing with a social problem," Eric Tars told NPR.

Gig Harbor's ordinance goes into effect in December.

Image by Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press