Coast food truck feeds the needy and has a new building. Why can’t they open in Biloxi?

After the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen asked to serve food from a building on Judge Sekul Avenue this spring, everyone seemed to agree on one point: the hungry in Biloxi need help.

The consensus ended there.

The Biloxi City Council rejected the proposed move in a 5-2 vote last week, citing Loaves and Fishes’ failure to meet rules that would allow a soup kitchen to exist in a neighborhood. The Rev. Greg Barras, president of Loaves and Fishes’ board of directors, said the decision will unleash more challenges for the soup kitchen — and the city.

“It’s been a wonderful privilege to serve the homeless,” Barras said. “But it’s in jeopardy.”

Councilman George Lawrence said residents only opposed the location, not feeding the hungry.

“They do a good deed,” Lawrence said, but the spot “just didn’t sit right with the neighbors.”

A Biloxi businessman donated the building to Loaves and Fishes this year. Barras said they now serve over 100 people a day from a food truck on the Back Bay Mission property. They still own the Judge Sekul building and may use it to store food and freezers. And the search continues for a new location, with no leads yet.

Some welcomed the news of a permanent home for Loaves and Fishes. “I thought it was a great idea,” Planning Commission Vice Chair Steve Delahousey said. “I thought it would get good support.”

After weeks of impassioned debate, the Council decided that Loaves and Fishes did not meet zoning rules called conditional use that would allow a social services agency to exist in an otherwise residential area. Those conditions include neighborhood compatibility, safe traffic flows and property value protections, among others.

The Planning Commission, however, recommended Loaves and Fishes pass those requirements in a 7-4 vote on April 6.

That sent the decision to the Council. It was a matter of neighborhood concern, they said, so they planned a public hearing. Both sides argued their case.

Lawrence tabled the measure on April 25.

This week, he said Loaves and Fishes failed to meet any of the rules for conditional use.

And residents, who said again and again that they support Loaves and Fishes’ mission but worry about safety and vagrancy and even sanctity of the nearby Biloxi cemetery, pleaded that council members block the move.

“There is no question that homeless people need help,” said Sonia Murray, who lives about one mile from the proposed location. “But not in a residential area. Not next to people’s apartments. Not next to people’s homes.”

Loaves and Fishes feeds the hungry in Biloxi

Others questioned why a mission to feed hungry people on the Mississippi Coast became so fraught.

“The City Council turned us into a contest on homelessness,” Al Gombos, a longtime Loaves and Fishes volunteer, said.

Loaves and Fishes helps the hungry, who are sometimes homeless. They also serve anyone who needs it, and regulars are often people with homes and jobs but who lack enough money to make ends meet at the end of every month.

“We feed the hungry, anyone who shows up, no questions,” Barras said.

Other local services for people who are hungry include Seashore Mission, a homeless day center, and Back Bay Mission, which provides education and housing rehabilitation and is where the Loaves and Fishes food truck operates now.

It is not the first time Loaves and Fishes has faced community questions. Neighbors tired of the soup kitchen’s Water Street location in 2016 after crowds lingered and police responded to one trespassing complaint.

Now, Lawrence and other Council members have expressed interest in helping Loaves and Fishes find a new location by creating a committee of residents, Loaves and Fishes staff and city officials to search for a building. Barras said he is skeptical they will follow through. Relieved opponents say they will help too.

“You’ve got to be sympathetic and want to help, but you’ve also got to help families — families with kids,” Murray said. “It’s a conundrum.”