Ohio court strikes down local law that criminalized feeding the homeless

Dayton, Ohio; June 24, 2026: Yesterday, a federal court struck down a Dayton law criminalizing a local nonprofit’s work to provide free meals and supplies to the city’s homeless community. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled that Nourish Our Neighbors’ charitable work is protected expression under the First Amendment and barred Dayton from enforcing its food-sharing permit requirement.

“This case was about a very simple injustice: People wanted to make their community better, and the government said, ‘Not without my permission,’” said Anastasia Boden, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “This ruling vindicates Dayton residents’ right to speak freely and to be kind without a permit.”

Nourish Our Neighbors founder, McKahla Moran, launched the organization in 2022 to provide food, clothing, and hygiene products to Dayton’s most vulnerable residents. During an April 2024 event, city officers ordered their volunteers to stop distributing free food. When one volunteer handed a burrito to a homeless man, he was handcuffed and detained for more than 30 minutes.

In yesterday’s ruling, a federal court found that charitable food distribution is protected expression under the First Amendment. The court found the ordinance vague: Its text broadly banned food distribution, yet the City only enforced it against events that it believed didn’t fit the “spirit” of the law. A Dayton police commander, pressed to explain where the line was, said enforcement would “depend on how many tacos” were being distributed.

Their next distribution event will take place on July 5 at Levitt Pavilion (134 S Main St, Dayton, OH 45402) at 11 a.m.

Pacific Legal Foundation represented Nourish Our Neighbors free of charge. The case is Nourish Our Neighbors v. City of Dayton, Ohio.