I have been homeless before. I knew I could avail myself to food banks/soup kitchens though I did go hungry many times.
What was really appreciated were things like a warm winter jacket, gloves, shoes and socks and a stranger handing me a sandwich and just talking to me without any judgement.
I take homeless people to the library and show them some websites where they can learn coding
hopefully then can turn that into gainful employment
ETA: food banks often assume you have a place to live. If you are limited to camping in the woods or are on the street your options are few. Need a pot to boil water for noodles. Better try dumpster-diving. Chop dead trees for firewood. No transportation? You can only take as much as you can carry. Milk or dairy products? Meat? Best be eaten promptly. Canned goods? Heavy, and one can only carry so much - if you are lucky enough to have a big enough backpack.
Thank you. I hope your efforts gain traction.
A major problem is not having a permanent address/ID/etc.
I had used friends mailing addresses, which helped a lot. There are agencies out there in every US state, refer them to them. That is what they are there for. Not Easy and sometimes a PIA.
But the ones who are desiring to lift themselves out of the street will go the distance.
That’s overthinking the situation. If a person is hungry and has nothing to eat, providing food is a good thing. Eating food is better than going hungry. A possible situation where giving someone food leads to them spending more on drugs is only that: a possible situation.
Wonderful suggestions, everyone - keep them coming! I wish I could implement them all.
I thought an emergency blanket would be helpful - and it was in the video about $20 backpacks.
Would a tube tent be useful to a homeless person would begs near a wooded area?
Teach them graphic design to make them better signs. Some days you wish you were joking.
By not enabling their homelessness.
If I have some money to spare, I’ll give it to them. I doubt they’re homeless because they WANT to be, so I’m not enabling them. Enabling implies that my $5 is going to allow them to maintain their fabulous lifestyle since of course, they must just be lazy or something, and enjoying living under overpasses or in the Forest Preserve. :rolleyes:
These are people - adults - who can certainly make the decision as to what they want to do with the stupid money - I’m not going to take away their freedom of choice whether that means they’ll blow it on Old Style Tall Boys, a tiny bit of coke, or use it to catch a bus to a homeless shelter or call their mother from a pay phone. I don’t care if they’re investing it for their retirement! It’s none of my business what they spend it on, frankly. Me giving them some money of my own free will does not mean that I get to impose my will on them or their decisions, or decide what’s best for them.
And by the way, yes, I have frequently donated my time and other things to the homeless shelter in our area, and also to the shelters and charities for battered women and children, so yes, I am trying to make a difference in that way as well - I just don’t feel like I’m entitled to ignore their own self respect (or what’s left of it) by treating them like children who don’t know how to spend their allowance.
Socks, small bottles of toiletries (including lotion), and washcloths come to mind for me. There was a homeless person hanging about on a previous job, and after talking to her, learned that everyone was always willing to give her food, some of the food she couldn’t eat (dental issues), and she generally had enough clothes, but couldn’t get them cleaned as it was cheaper to pick up things at Goodwill, etc. than pay for a wash/dry cycle.
First of all, anyone who thinks they could never be homeless is wrong. I damn near was myself.
Most people are homeless through no fault of their own. You lost your job, welfare only pays two years of help at most. Then what? As the saying goes “Change the name and the tale is told about you.”
Give them food, give them money. Donate food every chance you get. They often set up a donation table at our local supermarkets. Give them toiletries. Donate old clothing to a charity or a thrift store.
When you have nothing, anything is something.
There is a homeless guy that we often walk past on our way to lunch. One of the women in our lunch group will stop in one of the sandwich shops nearby and buy the guy a gift card so he can go in there and get some food if he’s hungry.
I once paid this homeless guy a couple of bucks to pump gas in my truck.
I think I gave him a bright idea because next time I saw him he was pumping gas for anyone that would let him. Making good money to for a homeless guy.
I carry a spare can of soda. You might be surprised at the look when they realize they can have more than water for once.
Speaking of which: in large cities or areas where the homeless wander, a garden hose with auto-shutoff is a godsend, especially on hot days. Just don’t get weird if they actually use it.
Remember when laundromats had free washtubs? Guess why they were removed.
I don’t know if this counts, since it’s intervening to stop homelessness (rather than helping currently homeless). But we’ve taken in two teens who were thrown out on the street by their parents. Each one stayed for a little over two years and we fed them, got them to school, and shepherded them through everything from SATs to college applications, to driver’s licenses*. Both are doing OK; one has graduated college and working in a research group; one is in pharmacy tech training. They deserve the credit for their hard work getting launched, but I’m certain we helped a lot.
I’ve been teaching night classes for 4+ years as a volunteer instructor at an adult-intervention center here. Although we’re mainly focused on domestic violence victims, it’s not a requirement… anyone who’s struggling is welcome. The center provides child-care, education, hot meals, legal assistance, and a clothing store so they can restart their lives. My role is minor, I’ve been teaching a 5-month computer skills course** to help with employment prospects. The idea is to have everything in one place because single Moms who’ve fled with kids don’t have the resources to drive all over town hiring lawyers, child care, and getting housing. It works pretty well, and we’ve moved quite a few families from shelter to full time work with apartments etc. The director is now working with the local family court to move their operations into our building. That way we we’re kind of a “one-stop-shop” for people who need help with dangerous relationship situations.
I have no idea how to solve the broader homeless problem for thousands/millions, but at least we’ve managed to solve it for a few dozen families. Our success rate is demoralizing sometimes, but we keep at it.
*this is really a survival necessity in this part of the US.
**this is actually a pretty involved course, and they emerge as very capable in the MS Office/Web/Mail/etc set of products. It’s not a simple intro course, and local businesses are starting to recognize our certificate. One large corp has even asked us to provide in-house training to their employees. 
This makes no sense. How do you “enable” homelessness? Foreclosure? Job termination?
Giving them cash.
I am not going to PIT you, but with all due respect, since I have Been There, Done That-
a couple of dollars went a long way with me when offered. Senior coffee at McD’s, a breakfast burrito came under $2. Much appreciated.
It kept me alive for the day.
Pick your targets carefully and perhaps engage them in a conversation to realize who they are and are subject to possibilities beyond their control or are just crack-heads hoping for a dime.
Hard to tell sometimes, unless you get to know them.
Or you can just go on your way, confident in your superiority.
Until.
Bam. Wam. DAMN.
No place to live. No cash, no credit cards, no friends to put you up.
Taking a place in a dumpster under cardboard just to get out of the rain.
Finding out social services require an address, even though you have to camp with a blanket and a dirty towel in the deep woods and hopefully trap a some type of rodent that day and if it hasn’t rained that day one will have some dry wood to start a campfire.
So - tell me about YOUR homeless experiences.
I understand that there are cases of good people who are forced into homelessness. But in my opinion they are not the vagranty looking people standing on the corner with a ripped up piece of cardboard reading “God bless”.
Actual homeless-not-by-choice people are at shelters, applying for jobs and not stumbling on street corners, drunk, asking for hand outs.
Here’s my story. I passed an older guy sitting on a bench. He humbly ask for money for food. He seemed genuine so I sat down beside him and he convinced me he was a good person just down on his luck and hungry.
I was close to McDonald’s so I walked across the street and bought him a meal. As I handed it to him he had sort of a blank look on his face. So I left and went on about my errands. An hour later as passed back by him, there sat the meal next to him where I set it down. And he was telling his hunger story to another mark. Sorry- no more.
I was on a City Commission for quite some time working with the homeless. IN GENERAL homeless experts say to NOT give cash.
I also choose to live for a month of the food one would get on Public assistance. So, yeah, you’re not living on rodents. Rice, beans, rubbery cheese, etc. Hardly gourmet, but filling. And if you didnt have that ID or address, no less than two agencies served bland but free meals outdoors to all comers, and the local church gave away bags of potatoes, onions and day old bread from Trader Joes.
Clothes are easy too. But “interview clothes” and socks are hard to get.
Note i also got a plaque from Second harvest for my food and fund raising efforts for several years.