Nathan Hunsinger
Audio By Carbonatix
A nonprofit distributing food to homeless people downtown was forced to vacate its usual street corner Sunday as Dallas mulls stricter distribution rules.
Organizers of Sandwich Sundays took to social media over the weekend after they said Dallas code representatives gave them 40 minutes to pack their food, clothing and sanitary supplies and vacate their standard spot behind City Hall. City council members recently deferred a discussion on heightened regulations for churches and nonprofits distributing food.
People of Dallas Houseless Aid, the nonprofit organization behind Sandwich Sundays, has been distributing food to downtown’s homeless population since 2020. On any given Sunday, volunteers hand out over 200 sandwiches or hot meals behind City Hall in the southern end of downtown, said Jackie Jones, the organization’s secretary.
“Our main staples are food, hygiene — that’s Band Aids, antiseptic stuff like that — and then there’s clothes,” Jones said. “We also have drinks. We usually do cold drinks, sodas, all that, water, and then we usually have hot coffee with it.”
They have had more trouble with the city over distributions since 2024, she said, roughly corresponding to when Dallas officials announced a major push to end homelessness in downtown. The group received its first warning in 2025 for failing to provide the city with the required 24-hour advance notice before distribution.
This Sunday, however, felt different, Jones said. A homeless outreach liaison, two city attorneys, a constable and four code and compliance officers arrived shortly after they began setting up at 11 a.m. Organizers were told they needed to vacate the sidewalk because of their tables, even though she said that hadn’t been an issue prior to Sunday.
“We were confused. There was no sign, email or anything. And it’s not like we don’t talk to those people,” Jones said. “We talk to them every other Sunday for a good five minutes. It’s usually about, ‘Hey, what are you doing? What’s the name? Are you registered? How many people are you going to serve?… That’s usually it. That’s always the only question. It’s never about, “‘No, you can never serve here.’”
Dallas has had the same regulations on feeding the homeless since 2014, when the city settled a lawsuit after trying to clamp down on churches and nonprofits distributing food downtown. The rules stipulate that organizations must notify the city in advance, keep food within safe temperature ranges and bring ample supplies to clean up after the event.
However, those guidelines weren’t the issue on Sunday. Officials cited a section of the Dallas City Code governing street vendors and gave the group about 45 minutes to clear the sidewalk. Specifically, the code referenced prohibits vendors from using tables or stands, “any part of which touches the ground,” it reads.
Less than half of the food and hygiene materials were distributed during a rushed handout before organizers finished packing up, Jones said.
Organizers tried to talk to the city representatives, but were not given many options past vacating the sidewalk, Jones said, who added their exit was “essentially what they always wanted.”
“It’s not frustrating like ‘Oh, that darn city,’” Jones said. “It’s like the lack of communication, it’s the lack of readiness on their part; I feel like they weren’t ready for our questions.”
City Looks at Street Feeding
The city did not return requests for comment. In a 2025 Dallas Morning News interview, however, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert called street feeding “problematic.”
“All the trash is left on the street,” Tolbert told the Morning News.
The city council has been debating whether to impose stricter regulations on food distribution in recent weeks. On April 25, council members declined to pass a motion requiring groups to apply for a permit with more food safety guidelines, and instead pushed the discussion back to the committee level.
Along with littering, food safety is also central to the debate over street feeding. Code representatives and council members have raised concerns over food temperatures and handling at the largely outdoor distributions. There are normally two volunteers with food handler certifications at Sandwich Sundays, Jones said, who make sure temperatures are checked and gloves are worn.
Organizers met Monday night to discuss next steps. Sandwich Sundays will continue at the same location, she said, albeit without tables and streamlined with ready-made baskets to keep the total time under 30 minutes.
In a release, People of Dallas Houseless Aid warned that the city is pushing smaller groups “toward established city-adjacent organizations,” and that “independent mutual aid is being pressured toward institutionalization.”
Jones said she feels the timing of the city’s sudden urgency to enforce longstanding rules isn’t coincidental and also pointed to a major event coming up in North Texas this summer as potentially motivating officials.
“The timeline of what they’re doing fits within the timeline of when they announced the cities of the World Cup around 2024,” Jones said, referring to when it was announced that North Texas would host nine World Cup matches this year, more than any other city. “Guess what happened in 2024? Police started showing up, asking about permits or all that stuff.”
