In Jacksonville, Florida, a driver hands money to a man panhandling on a median. This action is at the center of a legal challenge to the city’s ban on panhandling. Despite court rulings that consider asking for money a form of free speech, several cities and states are pushing for new restrictions, citing safety concerns.
This year, New Mexico’s Democratic governor and an Arizona Republican lawmaker proposed statewide bans on panhandling in street medians, but neither measure passed. Wilmington, North Carolina, enacted a similar law, while Roanoke, Virginia, has increased enforcement of a similar rule. In Jacksonville, Florida, homeless advocates have filed a lawsuit over the city’s ban.
In Des Moines, Iowa, a ban on panhandling at busy intersections has been in place for five years, with new signs recently posted to inform the public. The city is also considering a new law targeting homeless camps.
Some cities are offering alternatives to panhandling. Oklahoma City, where a panhandling ban was struck down by the courts, now offers cleanup jobs to panhandlers. Philadelphia, Fairfax County, Virginia, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, have similar programs.
The rise in these efforts comes amid a nationwide homelessness crisis and an increase in pedestrian deaths since the pandemic. Supporters of the bans argue they improve safety, while opponents claim there’s no evidence the bans protect pedestrians and that they violate free speech rights. Court decisions on the matter have been mixed.
Many of the new or proposed laws are modeled after one in Sandy City, Utah, which was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2019. This law makes it illegal for anyone to stand on narrow medians.
In New Mexico, which has the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities in the nation, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham proposed a state law this year to ban pedestrians from narrow medians. Some New Mexico cities, like Santa Fe and Española, already have such bans in place. While there’s no clear link between panhandling and pedestrian deaths, supporters argue it’s common sense to keep people off medians in heavy traffic.
However, Lujan Grisham’s proposal didn’t gain much support from her party, with only one Republican state senator sponsoring the bill. Despite this, she continues to advocate for the ban, seeking a statewide version of Española’s 2022 law against loitering on narrow medians.
The American Civil Liberties Union ACLU opposes these laws, arguing they’re more about hiding homelessness than ensuring safety. For example, a new law in Bangor, Maine, bans pedestrians from medians less than 6 feet wide in high-speed areas.
Courts have struck down some similar laws. In 2020, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an Oklahoma City ban, finding no clear evidence of a safety issue due to pedestrians on medians. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, leaving the lower court’s ruling in place.
In Roanoke, Virginia, enforcement of a ban on panhandling on narrow medians has increased, with about 100 $25 fines issued since spring. Police say the ban temporarily reduces panhandling, but the issue returns when enforcement stops.
In Arizona, Republican state Senator John Kavanagh introduced a bill last year targeting panhandling on traffic medians, but it didn’t pass.
In Jacksonville, the Homeless Voice, a newspaper employing homeless people to distribute it and collect donations, sued the city over its new panhandling ban. The ban has significantly reduced the number of newspaper vendors, and the newspaper’s publisher, Sean Cononie, criticized the move as a step backward. The case is ongoing, with a federal judge allowing the city to enforce the ban while the trial proceeds.