That is an oversimplification. It is always legal to share with friends and visitors. What the law relates to is the chaos that can ensue. If you start feeding a lot of homeless then you will start getting a lot of homeless around. They will set up camps, leave trash and shit and needles around, and petty property crimes will increase. Because of the reliably repeatable downsides that come with philanthropy some limits are enforced. This is similar to it being illegal to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater or illegal to play music at volumes that cause intense distress to those around you.

The law (which varied by municipality) was enforced against Food Not Bombs pop-up events as well as random people. It wasn't created to stop homeless encampments, trash or needles, because encampments don't just show up wherever someone gives out sandwiches. Homeless encampments happen under bridges, near railways, and other places where they can actually keep their stuff and won't get hassled by the cops.

Almost every other state in America deals with this the "traditional way", by having cops kick their ass until they move somewhere out of public view. Florida (and one or two other states) want to prevent them from coming to the state at all, so they're trying to make it harder to live there.

What? Really?

What if they want to buy something in a shop, is that illegal? What happens if you have a homeless friend and you invite them round for dinner?

Or is it like pigeons, you just get signs in the park saying 'don't feed the homeless'

Speaking as a European, this just sounds bizarre.

Looks like that site blocks non-American IPs.

South African IP here. Works for me.

I cant read this either, is there a TLDR?

It's an Associated Press story, here's a mirror: https://apnews.com/ab0400475cee4777bc3a9cf7d1642a53

I mean, if it's a give-a-can-take-a-can for when a neighbor doesn't have some black beans and needs them for a recipe, but sometimes those darn homeless people just happen to "rob" it? Or is food not under lock and key illegal?

Wow, that's some pure evil going there. Do you know what the background is? Solve the homeless problem by starvation?

I mean, I doubt it - there has to be a bigger point that I'm missing. (right?)

It’s simple: poor people have always been screwed by people in power. It’s been that way since forever. It’s Florida too, so there’s probably a racial component. You get to screw over poor people AND black people.

There is no larger point. People are cruel, particularly certain political parties that tend to maintain power in the American South.

La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain.

  Do you know what the background is?

Imagine two cities with a lot of rough sleepers. City A offers shelter spaces, soup kitchens, free medical treatment and so on. City B offers one-way bus tickets to other cities† and orders the cops to hassle anyone they see begging or sleeping in public.

A year later, which city do you think will have more rough sleepers?

Florida have decided they're City B.

†They'll say they're helping the rough sleepers reunite with their families, but we all know what's really going on.

Except it simply doesn't work that way in the real world, and there are tremendous number of homeless people in Florida and virtually every other brutally homeless-hostile locale. People aren't trivially mobile -- especially if their lives are insecure and moving would mean losing the one or two connections or lifelines or familiar surroundings they have. Some have physical or mental difficulties that prevent them from relocating.

They aren't perfectly mobile, but over time a city that's welcoming to the homeless will attract more homeless people than cities who are actively hostile to them, particularly when cities are willing to buy bus tickets to get homeless out. Sure, not everyone will move, but some might, and when there's a disparity in how homeless are treated for years and years that adds up.

Grew up in Florida. It's most common around touristic area and the motivation is simple, they see helping the homeless as a way of elongating their stay instead of shortening it. they put the businesses over disenfranchised people.