# Are “fake homeless” really a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897 "2022-04-15T22:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/41 "2022-04-16T16:13:21Z")
> [@glee](#): > > The point is that homeless people can get some money with dignity through providing something and the generous donors also get a ‘reward’ (plus you know how much to pay.) > Win-win. 🕶 Seattle has a similar thing (has had it for decades, since 1994) called _[Real Change](https://www.realchangenews.org/about)_. > **[Real Change](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Change)** > > Real Change is a weekly progressive street newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, USA written by professional staff and sold by self-employed vendors, many of whom are homeless. The paper provides them with an alternative to panhandling and covers a variety of social justice issues, including homelessness and poverty. It became weekly in 2005, making it the second American street newspaper ever to be published weekly. Real Change is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with an annual budget o Re... I used to buy it when I worked in Seattle, and the content was very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/42 "2022-04-16T16:44:16Z")
I wonder how I could get one started near me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/43 "2022-04-16T16:57:00Z")
A couple of times back in the dark ages of the 70s I picked up a pile of the Daily Planet, an underground newspaper from their downtown office and brought them back home to the burbs to sell for 25¢ a pop at my high school. The paper was distributed for free and it’s so long ago I can’t recall if it was marked with a price at all but the kids at school thought 25¢ was a deal and loved it. Counterculture was cool, if for no other reason it bothered adults. Oh yeah, my parents were aghast at this because the paper carried \ ads for abortion clinics. They weren’t anti-abortion, it just wasn’t respectable. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/44 "2022-04-16T17:07:37Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Seattle has a similar thing (has had it for decades, since 1994) called _[Real Change](https://www.realchangenews.org/about)_ . Chicago does, as well: [StreetWise](https://www.streetwise.org/). It started out at about the same time, too (1992). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/45 "2022-04-16T17:14:33Z")
Sure, there are people who do an in-person version of GoFundMe, where they simply ask random strangers for money. As far back as the Sherlock Holmes story _The Man with the Twisted Lip_ it’s been noted that begging and street performance can be competitive to employment. A week or two ago I was out driving on a day with absolutely miserable weather- freezing rain, windy- and I gave a panhandler five dollars just on the theory that if he was willing to be out in that weather, he must really need the money. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/46 "2022-04-16T17:36:14Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > The panhandlers I know live in reduced circumstances, and legitimately need the the money. But they aren’t homeless, they live in some sort of veteran or public housing. The guys I know are mentally handicapped to some degree and this may be what keeps them from working. > > But the idea that they are just normal lazy people looking to make a fast buck is ridiculous. First, it’s work, and not particularly cushy work. You’ve gotta show up at the right time and stand on that corner for hours, often in inclement weather, breathing car exhaust and enduring verbal abuse and sometimes the threat of physical assault. It doesn’t require much intelligence or skill, but it’s work. When I worked in the city, there was another guy who ‘worked’ nearby; an older man, probably retired from whatever who was clean & in different clothes, which clearly indicated he wasn’t homeless. His ‘job’ was to stand or sometimes sit/lean (on the FD standpipe connection) with a cup in his hand. Granted I tended to not go out for lunch on the worst days, but when I did, I didn’t see him there. While I performed a valuable service to my employer in exchange for remuneration, he sat there with a cup in his hand for his income. Oh wait, he’d outstretch his arm to make the cup more visible & jingle it so the change made noise when someone walked by. 🙄 I’m sure there was no reason that he couldn’t get a retail job somewhere (& probably make more money, too) in better conditions & be a net benefit to society. Sadly, that SoB ruined it for me when it comes to people who are really in need because he was nothing but a scammer. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/47 "2022-04-16T19:51:20Z")
I ran into the gas can scammers all the time when I traveled to Baltimore frequently. Equally numerous were the church buses with flat tires: “The bill is $150 and we just need seven dollars more”. Good sales strategy—name a higher amount to make the request seem small—but they needed some more scripts. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/48 "2022-04-16T19:56:44Z")
I volunteer to help the homeless and have been on a Commission, and I know that giving them cash really doesn’t help. So yeah, maybe 20% are scammers, but giving to the rest doesn’t help the situation. Donate, volunteer. “Care not Cash”. I will buy the little paper. I do give generously to buskers, however. Street musician is a good way to fine tune the skills, and maybe get discovered, even. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/49 "2022-04-16T20:16:10Z")
I used to busk, I really hated panhandlers who would try to interrupt me to ask for money. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/50 "2022-04-16T20:24:54Z")
What instrument? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/51 "2022-04-16T20:25:50Z")
Guitar, vocals, and harmonica. I did it for practice–didn’t need the money (it was never much) and usually donated it to a homeless shelter up the street, to which I would refer beggars. After I finished my song. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/52 "2022-04-16T20:31:49Z")
I was air commuting from NY to Boston for a while and over time got to know the guy who worked the Legal Seafood Kiosk at Logan. There was a guy wandering the airport asking for money to get home to Virginia so he could start his life over, and he approached me, and politely asked me if I could give him some money to help him get back to his family in Virginia. Nice looking and acting young man. Nice talker, no real pressure, good backstory about problems in life with just enough details to be credible, he told that all very well, nice voice, nice presentation. Now he said he had put his problems behind him and wanted to return back to Virginia where he was from. Having nothing to do while I waited asked him something about Virginia, I grew up in Maryland right next door so I knew some things about the state. He was pretty skilled at answering that and other questions without much detail but he must have known something about Virginia. And when I got bored I told him sorry, good luck, but I wasn’t giving him any money. So maybe a month later I’m back at Logan, talking to the Legal Seafood guy again, and he says “Ooh, this oughta be good!” He saw Mr. Virginia approaching. He didn’t recognize me. The guy tried to hit me up again. Same story, maybe slightly more polished. The Legal guy and I exchanged looks. I don’t know how this came to me but I took out a business card and gave it to the panhandler. I told him to get back to Virginia as soon as he could, take a bus, hitchhike, walk, or whatever, then find a way to get a real Virginia Ham and send it to me somehow and I would pay the full cost of the ham and shipping and give him $100 on top of that (late 80s, early 90s, 100 bucks was still worth something). I told him he had a great way to start his life over by earning $100 as soon as he got there. I told him he or anyone else could call me to verify that the ham and shipping would be paid for. I tossed in some Horatio Alger-ish nonsense about taking that $100 and working hard and before long he’d be making a good living and never would have to worry about asking people for money ever again. I’m a charitable person, I give in large and small amounts to organizations and sometimes directly to people in need. I would have followed through with my offer if he did his part, and offered much more to somebody who showed that kind of initiative. He really only needed to get on the phone and find a way to get something labeled Virginia ham to me. Never saw or heard from him again of course. Somebody like that, well spoken and mannered, could have found a job if his problems were really behind him. Me and the Legal guy would have a chuckle about it each time I was back. I dunno, maybe he was making more at raising money to get back home to Virginia than he could have had at some other job. Hadn’t thought about this in years, the thread just triggered the memories. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/53 "2022-04-16T20:33:56Z")
I was told it is good practice and cures stage fright. And even a halfway decent busker brightens my day. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/54 "2022-04-16T20:34:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I know that giving them cash really doesn’t help. People say that, but if a grizzled old man (christ, that could describe me) asks me for some money so he can get a drink, the cash I give him is going to help satisfy his need. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/55 "2022-04-16T20:46:49Z")
I briefly considered trying this as an experiment back in my crazy youth. I had just moved to Albuquerque and was staying with friends until I could find a job and a place of my own. This was 1990, and the stretch of Central Avenue along the university was Panhandler Central. I was fresh in town, no one knew me, so I thought it might be a good chance to try it out. But I found a job rather quickly and blew off the notion. Here in Honolulu, the same lady has stationed herself outside the downtown Walmart for years now asking for spare change. She does not appear to be homeless. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/56 "2022-04-16T20:48:08Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Sadly, that SoB ruined it for me when it comes to people who are really in need because he was nothing but a scammer. You met one scammer, so you’re never going to give anything to people who are really in need? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/57 "2022-04-16T21:01:56Z")
Again, studies have shown that giving cash doesn’t help the situation. Donate, volunteer. So if they really are in need- and many are- then you can do more by spending half a day once a month than handing out a few fivers now and then. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/58 "2022-04-16T21:04:44Z")
That’s not how @Spiderman’s post read to me; though it’s possible that that’s what they do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/59 "2022-04-16T21:07:10Z")
Of all the people that use the phrase “Give a hand up, not a hand out”, I wonder what percentage actually follow through. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897/60 "2022-04-16T21:13:55Z")
I suppose you can do one of three things: 1. Volunteer your time to help the homeless. 2. Do nothing; do not give panhandlers money, nor volunteer. 3. Give panhandlers money. IMO #1 is best. Followed by #2. Followed by #3. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fake-homeless-really-a-thing/962897.md?page=4)