Grove City College had the right idea back in the 70’s.
Don’t take a DIME from Uncle Sam!
The key sentence for me is “some cities are already leading the way”
Let Obama and HUD do this. Let the Congressional GOP enable and even support it.
It devolves the actual decision making to the local level. It forces localities to decide where their loyalties and priorities are, and the option of opting out by getting off the Federal dole.
This isn’t a bad thing. The best governance is by governments that operate closest to the people they serve and are therefore most responsive to the people they serve.
Two things you should never take: Heroin, and federal money. Both are addicting and come with strings over you that you don’t want.
I’m on the director’s board for our church food pantry. The USDA offered us a program through a regional food bank that would have provided virtually all of our food needs for distribution. Just one minor catch; if we became involved in the program, we could not engage in any religious activity with clients during our distribution process. As an outreach ministry of our church, the spiritual component is just as important as the nutritional. They were asking us to compromise the core principle of the organization.
We said “thanks but no thanks.” We trusted that the Lord would provide all that we needed, and He has, plus some extra.