Without government, how would we be able to keep the homeless from getting shelter?

Temperatures in Gloversville, New York, are expected to fall to -4 degrees tonight. That’s bad news for the roughly 80 homeless people who live in the upstate community, and who have few options for escaping the dangerously frigid weather.

About half of those people could be housed on the second floor of a building owned by the city’s Free Methodist Church, where 40 empty beds sit ready to welcome people in from the cold.

Stopping that from happening are Gloversville’s zoning officials, who say that the commercial zoning of the church’s property and its downtown location prohibit it from hosting a cold weather shelter. Those empty beds will have to stay that way.

This is from Christian Britschgi, “Zoning Officials Stop Church from Opening 40-Bed Shelter in Sub-Zero Temperatures,” Reason, January 14, 2022.