I don’t give money to anyone on the street. I do donate money to organizations that fight homelessness. My thinking is that if I give a handout to an individual, it’s not going to change his situation and the money would be better spent on a structured effort to get people off the street rather than funding someone to continue to stay on the street. Yet many people must think differently than me, because lots of people do stop to give money to these folks.
What is your way of thinking on this?
When a homeless guy asks for money I’m not going to patronize him by somehow ensuring he doesn’t spend it on drugs- “I won’t give you money but I will give you an apple from my grocery bag. Enjoy! No! No need to thank me!” or “I’ll take the money I would give to you and donate it to a shelter instead. No! No need to thank me!” This is a guy asking me for some money and if I decide to grant his request I’m not going to give a shit what he spends it on.
It doesn’t matter if the money I give him isn’t going to change his situation. If the quarter I have is worth enough to him that he’d ask me for it it’s no sweat off my back. I’m not going to appraise his request for the total impact it’s going to make on the homeless or whatever.
In my opinion, giving money to homeless people is a form of selfishness just like feeding wild bears. Just so you can feel good about yourself, you are harming others.
Wow, that was…dehumanizing.
I don’t usually give money to the homeless, but I do a lot of work for charity so I think it evens out.
I think I understand why you’re saying that, but can you describe, in detail, how withholding money does less harm?
Will someone you refrain from giving money to be motivated to get a job and a home? Will someone else who was not homeless, but thinking of trying it out, be put off? What?
I wonder if panhandling is getting harder as people use less and less cash. I almost never have cash on me now-a-days.
In anycase, even when I did have cash, I usually don’t give to panhandlers, since I find getting asked for money annoying and don’t want to encourage it.
Normally homeless people are drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, or some combination thereof. So they are not competent to spend money for their own good and in fact are likely to spend that money destructively, i.e. on drugs or alcohol.
The other harm is that giving money encourages homeless people to solicit, accost, or harass other people in the same neighborhood.
I don’t give money to beggars since (a) I’m fairly selfish and (b) I don’t want to encourage beggars. Harsh, but true.
My feelings exactly.
mmm
Occasional and sporadic giver. Probably less than ten percent of the times I’ve been asked (living in NY and DC means lots of requests), but not all that rare. Usually change or a couple bills in my pocket, but throwing someone fifty or a hundred bucks isn’t out of the question and circumstances are right (e.g. flush with cash, can give and keep walking without a scene, etc.).
Why? Pretty simple, really. Being homeless sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. Begging sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. Miserable life, with very few highs (intangible or chemical). I’m sure that more than one person I’ve given to goes home to their mansion and yacht (and maybe even a sword and magic helmet), but shitty shitty poverty is too rampant and the homeless problem is too real for that to be a significant fraction of the homeless we pass by every day.
So if they buy food, booze, an XBox, a hooker, a hookerbot, or whatever, I don’t look at it as something I’m choosing. Someone’s in a shitty place with breaks too few and too far between.
Literally.
This makes sense, especially if one donates to or works with charities that have outreach programs. As Brazil noted, most homeless people have substance abuse problems*, and may not have the wits about them to find a homeless shelter. And of course there are those who really are just looking for the next fix, and they’re not going to find that at a shelter.
*Estimates vary, but I’ve seen the number stated as 75 -90%.
One solution I’ve seen is to carry gift certificates for McDonald’s or whatever, and to give those to beggars: That way, you’re letting them get a meal, but they can’t use it on drugs or alcohol.
I very rarely see any beggars nowadays, though, so I don’t bother. And the last beggar I did see had a sign asking for donations of money or medicine. Given the extremely low odds that any passer-by will have on them a specific medicine that the beggar legitimately needs, I took that as basically an acknowledgment that yes, the beggar will blow whatever you give them on getting high.
First, I donate a lot to various charitable organizations. I try to avoid those with lots of overhead and focus on those that use the money for their intended cause and beneficiaries.
I do not give to beggars including those people supposedly raising money for charities standing in the intersections with buckets (cheerleaders, little league teams, firefighters, etc.)
I don’t hand out money because it discourages the use of public assistance/services available to them that a good chunk of my money is already helping to fund.
I don’t often give to panhandlers, but then I’m not often asked, there aren’t a lot around where I am.
Most folks that have asked me have the same story, about how their car is just around the corner, and they need a couple of bucks for gas, or something similar. One time I saw the same person with the same story in two different places.
But once in a while something inside kind of pokes me and tells me to shell out what I have in my pocket. I can’t even say why. Most I ever gave was $10, all I had on me, when this poor old guy asked for change. I was just about to turn away and something inside said “Do it anyway.” So I did.
Big cities may have programs for the homeless. Smaller cities and towns-not so much.
Before deciding whether or not to drop your small change into the hat of a homeless person, you should find out what resources are available to that person. Is there ample housing, or do they have to stand in line for hours hoping for a space on the floor on a dirty mattress? Having to wait in line precludes you from seeking food or employment, and skipping the line to get in another line for food precludes you from a dubiously safe place to sleep.
Are there day shelters available? Most shelters only let people in for the evening, then kick them out early in the mornng.
What food is available, and when? Most homeless wake up to an empty stomach, and those stomachs stay empty until either they raise funds for a barely nutritious fast food meal(cooking anything is mostly out of the question), and if you are subsiding on nothing but crappy fast food both your health and your energy level are going to go south fast. Some places provide a meal in the evening, but again you might have to choose between standing in line for the food or standing in line for the shelter…and a lot of the time neither will be available by the time you get to the front of the line.
Now tell me how long would it take you, after waiting outside in crappy weather for hours for a chance to sleep on a dirty mattress on a floor or a chance to get a fat-filled bologna and wilted lettuce on week-old white bread sandwich, to finally give up on the whole damn system?
If you ask me for money while I am on the train I will not give you a dime. Trapping me in a metal can and trying to guilt me into giving to you because I can’t walk away makes me furious, especially if you are dancing or singing or otherwise intruding upon my commute. If someone asks for money when I’m not on the train I will often offer food instead. At least a third of the time I’m turned down by someone asking for money to buy food if I offer them a sandwich or a granola bar instead.
I will say that I’ve noticed in the last week or so a tremendous increase in the number of people begging for money. It used to be that a couple times a week I’d have someone randomly panhandle the train car for money but over the last few days I’ve had 3 or 4 people per day walk right up and directly ask me for money. I even had one woman tell me she came to me because I’m pregnant and she thought that I would understand her predicament that she was also pregnant and hadn’t eaten in 2 days. I don’t know if we just hit a point where unemployment is running out for a lot of people or if it just coincidence that I’ve seen such a noticeable increase in the number of panhandlers but it does make me sad to think of a big increase in the number of people who need that kind of help.
Around here (and I think it a lot of other cities) there’s an organization that publishes a newspaper, mostly written by homeless people, which is sold on the street by the homeless. They get something like $.75 out of every $1 paper they sell. I usually buy several of those a week and sometimes throw in an extra dollar or a pair of socks.
No, that wasn’t something inside you, he was a ventriloquist. 
My son and I were going into a McDonalds. A guy walked up and asked if i could give him money for food. I asked him what he wanted to eat. I bought it. When I handed it to him he looked disappointed.