A social justice volunteer in Houston has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing a law banning sharing food with people outdoors violates his freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

On Friday, a jury found Food Not Bombs volunteer Phillip Picone, 66, not guilty of breaking the law for feeding unhoused people outside a public library.

Dozens of citations have been issued recently against volunteers for the group in Houston for feeding more than five people outside, a violation of a city ordinance, lawyers for the group told USA TODAY.

"For 12 years these people have been feeding the homeless at the same location with no problem," attorney Paul Kubosh said. "These people even fed every day during COVID. This was the only place people could get a hot meal. And now, all of sudden the city's got a problem."

The nation's fourth-largest city has an unhoused population of more than 3,000 people, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County.

Food Not Bombs had provided meals four nights a week outside the Houston Public Library for decades without incident. But the city posted a notice at the site warning that police would soon start issuing citations, and the first came in March. That's when Picone received a criminal citation after police allegedly told the group to move their operations to another location, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In places such as California and Phoenix, which have some of the largest unsheltered homeless populations in the country, religious groups have for years organized to give food to vulnerable residents. They also say city ordinances banning or restricting giving out food outdoors violate their freedom of expression and religion.

In Houston, Picone's trial was the first to be held after 47 tickets were given to Food Not Bombs volunteers, according to attorney Randall Kallinen, who filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Picone. The jury was unanimous in its decision finding Picone not guilty of breaking the law.

Downtown business developers support the law, Kallinen said, but otherwise, "the vast majority of Houstonians do not like this law."

Food Not Bombs is a global network of groups that give vegetarian and vegan meals to people in need. The organization was founded in 1980, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Volunteer says Houston law is unconstitutional

Picone, who identifies as a Catholic, has launched a federal civil rights case against Houston's law, arguing it's unconstitutional.

Food Not Bombs has argued that the city's law is immoral and violates freedoms of expression and religion, Kallinen said.

"If you were to look in the Catholic bible, or any bible, you'd see many references to feeding the hungry and feeding the poor," Kallinen said. In addition to giving meals to unhoused people, Picone and other volunteers have also fed working poor people making minimum wages over the years, he said.

Houston regulations on who can provide free meals outdoors to those in need were enacted in 2012. The ordinance requires such groups to get permission from property owners if they feed more than five people, but it wasn’t enforced until recently, the Associated Press reported earlier this year.

"In the city of Houston it's criminal to give food to more than five people if those people are in need and outside, without the consent of the property owner," Kubosh told FOX 26 in Houston.

The office of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner had said tickets were being issued in part because of an increased number of threats and violent incidents directed at employees and visitors to the library by homeless individuals.

Religious groups say feeding homeless is freedom of expression

In Santa Anna, California, the city government is trying to block a Christian group from giving unhoused residents muffins and coffee, saying volunteers are violating zoning rules.

After the city threatened to fine the group Micah's Way, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest backing the group, arguing distribution of food and drink to homeless and poor people as a "religious exercise" could be a federally protected activity.

In Arizona, 78-year-old Norma Thornton sued Bullhead City last year after she was arrested for feeding homeless people in public.

“Norma, and the rest of Americans, really, have a right to engage in charitable acts,” Diana Simpson, Thornton’s attorney, said. “And that includes the right to sharing food.” 

Thornton’s attorneys, a legal team from pro bono law firm Institute for Justice, argue the ordinance amounts to an effective ban on food sharing and violates several of her civil rights under the 14th amendment. 

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY; Associated Press