Is there a major city anywhere on Earth where begging is rare or nonexistent?

[DrDeth]

@Mr.Excellent

So what’s heroin, chopped liver?

More seriously - you’re right, of course. But there’s no reason (in principle) that we couldn’t have some shelters designated as no-drug, family-friendly shelters and others as “harm-reduction” shelters designed to keep junkies from freezing to death and giving them a chance to grab clean needles or sign up for treatment programs.

Of course, this would all cost money. And we prefer to invest our money in sending folks to prison.

H is too expensive for the usual homeless user. Mind you, doubtless it’s a significant problem, but Meth seems to be the big one right now, at least around here.

True, we do need to do more for non-violent drug users. Perhaps a special shelter or even area within a shelter may indeed work.

sigh, too true.

[aruvqan]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Rochester, NY, is also over 200,000 and beggars were extremely rare. I worked in downtown for over a decade and never had to dodge any. A few people hold up signs at expressway exits but I don’t think that’s the same. The winters here will kill you if you’re outside and that may be a factor.

True, but I remember when I was doing an ab psych class the prof mentioned that there were homeless living in the old subway tunnels.

Are the tunnels even still there? I think it ran under Broad Street from what I remember.

OK looks like htey are just now starting to fill them in.

[Oukile]

Zürich (lived three year there).

[Shot_From_Guns]

Chalk me up as another person who didn’t see any begging in Tokyo.

@Mr.Excellent

The result is that a fair number of homeless men and women end up either staying on the streets, or paying to room in low-end boarding houses - one guy I spoke with said he paid $25 a day for his. Which doesn’t sound like much, perhaps, but is difficult to scrounge up when you can’t get a job.

That’s about $750 a month, which actually is probably *very *high for the kind of room you’d get. Which is one of the problems with being homeless–you can actually end up having to spend *more *money on things, because your income is so unpredictable and you have no savings.

@Mr.Excellent

But there’s no reason (in principle) that we couldn’t have some shelters designated as no-drug, family-friendly shelters and others as “harm-reduction” shelters designed to keep junkies from freezing to death and giving them a chance to grab clean needles or sign up for treatment programs.

Yes, but it’s very easy for someone’s political opponents to attack them as being “soft” on drugs or encouraging drug use if they support anything but hardline anti-drug measures. Even if the measures they support would lead to fewer health problems and less drug use long-term.

[purplehorseshoe]

Yeah, I can almost see the political attack ad now:

ominous music
black-and-white footage of Mr. Excellent making an odd face

“Mr. Excellent supports making drug paraphanelia accessible to drug addicts. He wants to put needles in the hands of junkies. He wants to make homeless shelters let people do drugs.”

** bright, cheery music **
** footage of a flag waving in a stiff breeze **

“Mr. Excellent’s Opponent things that’s a bad use of YOUR tax dollars. Vote for Mr. Excellent’s Opponent. ThisadpaidforbysupportersofMr.Excellent’sOpponent.”

[Mr.Excellent]

ominous music
black and white footage of Mr. Excellent’s opponent making an even odder face

"With our city ravaged by AIDS and hepatitis, Mr. Excellent’s opponent opposes simple, proven measures to save our neighbors’ lives.

brighter, cheerier music
footage of Mr. Excellent kissing a baby wrapped in an American flag

"Mr. Excellent wants to save the lives of our poorest citizens, and protect the health of all. Vote for Mr. Excellent! "

[Martini_Enfield]

@Siam_Sam

I can’t recall seeing any beggars in Switzerland’s large cities. Or Japan. Or Singapore. Nor Kuala Lumpur.

I’ve seen beggars in Kuala Lumpur, but there weren’t many of them at all and they weren’t anywhere that tourists were likely to see them for the most part. Talking to some of my friends there, they said begging was discouraged socially and because most people are fairly religious, their mosque/temple/church would usually step in and help before it got to the point that someone was reduced to begging in the streets.

[Siam_Sam]

@Martini_Enfield

I’ve seen beggars in Kuala Lumpur, but there weren’t many of them at all and they weren’t anywhere that tourists were likely to see them for the most part. Talking to some of my friends there, they said begging was discouraged socially and because most people are fairly religious, their mosque/temple/church would usually step in and help before it got to the point that someone was reduced to begging in the streets.

I did have a young man try to pick me up on the street. While my wife was right next to me! Guess he was a buggerer rather than a beggar.