Ken Paxton Sues Christian Nonprofit That Serves Homeless Calling It A ‘Nuisance’

According to KUT News, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center (SHNC) for being a "common nuisance" to its neighbors.

SHNC is a faith-based homeless outreach program that "offers pathways to housing for people experiencing homelessness through low-barrier access to wraparound services," according to their website.

SHNC is a ministry of Sunrise Community Church, a member of the fellowship of congregations that makes up of the Reformed Church in America:

The Reformed Church in America is a fellowship of congregations called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world.

SHNC is located at 4430 Menchaca Rd, across the street from Joslin Elementary School and near Joslin Park.

The lawsuit begins with shocking claims about what happens in the area:

In South Austin, a once peaceful neighborhood has been transformed by homeless drug addicts, convicted criminals, and registered sex offenders.

These people do drugs in sight of children, publicly fornicate next to an elementary school, menace residents with machetes, urinate and defecate on public grounds, and generally terrorize the surrounding community.

The lawsuit also doesn't mince words about who it believes is to blame—not homelessness itself but the SHNC facility in particular.

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The lawsuit claims that SHNC's needle exchange program means drugs are used in view of the public, and that even homeless people in an " unstable state" are allowed to loiter in the area.

The lawsuit also provides photographic proof of needles and other waste being strewn throughout the neighborhood.

The lawsuit seeks to shut down SHNC for a year and not allow it to operate facilities within 1,000 feet of a school, park, or youth center.

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SHNC responded to the lawsuit in a press release:

As a faith-based ministry of Sunrise Community Church, our mission and obligation is to take care of the poor.

Churches are protected under the First Amendment and the U.S. Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, as well as the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

These laws have been tested in court on multiple occasions, always with the same result: churches are protected to do work that is an expression of their religious practice.

Caring for the "least among us" is a biblical, Christ-like action. However, should those efforts interfere with the quality of life of the neighbors around them?

It seems that it will be up to Texas courts to decide.