From Homeless to Stepless on Fifth Avenue?

Apr 25, 2005

Fighting to allow NYC Church to provide emergency "home" to homeless

The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, located on New York's famous Fifth Avenue, is under attack by the City of New York, as the City denies the Church the right to use its private property to serve the homeless and carry out its religious mission. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed yesterday an amicus (friend of the court) brief before the Second Circuit to defend the Church against these gross violations of federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

The Becket Fund -- a nonpartisan, interfaith, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions -- filed the brief in support of the Church's right to permit the homeless to sleep on its steps and sidewalk as it has done for years. However, toward the end of 2001, city officials informed the church that allowing the homeless to sleep outside would no longer be tolerated. The church subsequently filed suit, challenging the city's actions as violating the U.S. Constitution and RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000).

"That the police could decide in November 2001 that the Church's ministry was a nuisance, even though the exact same conduct had been ongoing for the previous two years with their full knowledge, further demonstrates that the nuisance inquiry is not an inquiry characterized by objectively defined criteria and across-the-board rules," The Becket Fund notes in its brief.

The lower court agreed the issue is one of religious liberty:  "That the Church's practice of allowing homeless persons to sleep out-of-doors on its property is an 'exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs' cannot be seriously disputed." The court found that the city could not remove the homeless on the steps and landings of the church, but that they could remove homeless who were on church-owned portions of the sidewalk. The city appealed the portion of the court's ruling that allowed the homeless to remain on the steps.

Resources & Documents

• Becket Amicus Supporting 5th Avenue Presbyterian (PDF, 75.75KB)

Relevant Cases

• Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church v. City of New York