“I heard from some people in Biloxi years ago that the man who owns the majority of the carts on the Gulf Coast (New Orleans, Gulfport, Mobile, etc.) would hire winos and other bums and not allow them to stop working until they’d made a specified amount of money.”
The typical operation we see is some ‘homeless shelter’ providing free room and board in exchange for working the intersections.
One ‘home’ in the Tampa area is suing Tampa for lost ‘revenue’ since the ordinance was passed to only allow panhandling on Sundays.
If I’m not mistaken, that ‘home’ in Tampa is being sued by Tampa, for not paying tenants for work done. The ‘Home’ owns a few retail stores, and the tenants work there in exchange for their room.