Portland Religious Group Sues City of Brookings for Restricting Meal Services for Homeless Residents

Almost two years after advocating for the city of Portland to drop its plans to limit the number of free meals that volunteers could serve to the hungry in public parks, a Portland civil rights organization is backing a similar fight in the Southwestern corner of the state.

On January 28, the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Brookings on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon—a Portland-based coalition—after Brookings officials passed an ordinance limiting the number of days that local churches can feed the hungry.

In June 2021, more than a dozen residents living near St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings presented the city with a petition to “remove the homeless” people who frequented the church for free food, showers, medical care, and internet access. The petition cited a number of concerns with the roughly 70 homeless people congregating around the church, including allegations of criminal trespassing, theft, harassment, drug possession, littering, disorderly conduct, physical altercation and child abuse.

For more than 12 years, St. Timothy’s has served free meals to the public as part of its Brookings-Harbor Community Kitchen Ministry—a small union of local churches that serves cooked meals seven days a week. When nearly all of the ministry’s churches suspended their meal services in 2020 due to COVID-19, St. Timothy’s volunteered to pick up the slack, and became the primary location for free meals in the town of less than 7,000 people.

In response to the community’s dissatisfaction with the number of homeless people gathering around St. Timothy’s, the city notified the local churches that they were operating as restaurants, per Oregon Health Authority rules. The City then prompted the Oregon Health Authority to require the churches to file for restaurant permits and pass the proper health and safety inspections. Once the churches were certified as restaurants, the City informed the ministry that Brookings municipal code does not allow for restaurants in residential zones—where a majority of kitchen ministry churches are located.

In October, Brookings City Council passed a policy allowing the churches the option to continue their meals services on the grounds that they apply for conditional permits. The Brookings’ permits are stippled with conditions that, among other things, limit applicants to holding two meals services per week.

Rev. Diana Akiyama, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, told the Mercury that this is the first time a city has attempted to place limits on her congregations’ meal services.

“We assert that the City’s actions are not only wrong, they are unkind and lacking compassion,” Akiyama said.

The issue is all too familiar for the OJRC, which filed suit against the city of Portland in 2019 on behalf of Free Hot Soup—a band of local community members who offer free food to the public at Director Park in Downtown Portland. The lawsuit challenged a new Portland Parks and Recreation policy that limited organizations to one meal service per week in Portland parks, and would have required the grassroots group to obtain a costly insurance policy. However, the lawsuit was dismissed months later, after the Parks and Recreation Department agreed to throw out the policy.

“The threat of this policy left them with no choice other than shutting down the meal service, but it never came to pass,” said Alice Lundell, a spokesperson for the OJRC.

Now, with the fight reignited in Brookings, the OJRC is seeking a jury trial in hopes of proving in federal court that these government-imposed restrictions on feeding the hungry violate constitutional religious freedom rights at the state and federal level.

“If the court does say that this ordinance is unlawful, it could prevent other cities from trying similar bans,” OJRC Associate Director Franz Bruggemeier said. “How powerful and applicable the court’s ruling would be, would depend on what law or constitutional right that the court relies on.”

If no settlement is reached, the case will be heard in the United States District Court in Medford. Although much of the groundwork is still being done, OJRC attorney l Walter Fonseca said that the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon has a very good case.

“These [religious issues] are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and based on facts,” Fonseca said. “St. Timothys has been feeding the hungry for years based on their religious worship that’s firmly founded in their beliefs. The city cannot do this. This one is clear.”