I don’t know how hard it would be for someone like this to go to a business and offer to hold one of their advertising signs out by the roadside for the minimum wage for 5-8 hours. I see idiots like this all the time here (often in a Batman costume or such in 95 degree weather)-did see someone who looked rather scruffy once tho who could have been homeless.
Now THIS is the part that I disagree with. Yes, they ARE doing something. They are out of bed, dressed, hanging out in often lousy weather sitting or standing on a corner asking people for money. As for you asserting that you would “take a lot less..” than 30K? Go do it right now, in my area in Central Florida next to the guy out in 98 degrees who pan handles outside the Mcdonald’s parking lot by my work for 9 hours a day and I’d bet you’d quit in two days; if you even lasted that long.
Maybe you don’t like their job or how they choose to bring in money but personally, anyone who thinks they’d rather be doing this than sitting in a nice AC or heated office somewhere is a tad off in my opinion. No one has a career goal to beg.
Mental illness doesn’t go away. It still exists. You just have people that would have been institutionalized 30 years ago that are on the streets.
Anyway, I think this convo depends on the city. Portland is different than Denver re: homeless and transients.
Not all homeless resources are created alike. And how many times have I seen something in the news about it being 3 degrees below and not enough beds? 
Independent and government social services have been around for the last few hundred years and homeless people are still on the street.
Remember, you cannot MAKE them go to a shelter, or take their medication. That’s the whole thing of it, there are some resources for the mentally ill, but they have to take advantage of those resources, themselves. It’s against the law to make people do what’s good for them. Even if they’re threatening people, the police can’t do anything unless they witness somebody getting physically hurt.
So what we’re really talking about is not Lazy Bastards Who Won’t Just Get a Job, or even the poor souls who have had a phenomenal run of bad luck with no resources to fall back on, but those poor souls in every population who just can’t or won’t take care of themselves: too pig-headed stubborn (eccentric in a weird, bad way), or foolish (endless, bad decision-making), or just lost (nobody’s home mentally ill), to make use of the resources available to them, who somehow can’t bring themselves to play by society’s rules of getting a job, getting a place to live, paying bills, and at the very least not being a burden on society.
I dimly recall hearing about some guy – I think he was making a documentary – who gave something like $15,000 to some homeless guy to see what he would do with it. Instead of getting an apartment and looking for a job, the guy bought a pickup truck and I think ended up losing or destroying the pickup truck somehow, and wound up back where he started. I don’t know if this doc ever got finished or released, or what the point was, really, except to illustrate the idea that some people just can’t take care of themselves. What do we do? Lock 'em up? Line 'em up and shoot 'em? I don’t know.
I won’t give them a penny. I don’t really encourage anyone who interferes with the flow of traffic, be it local fire departments, panhandlers, or what have you. I do regularly give to the local food pantry. I think my money is better spent.
Something to keep in mind about shelters: they aren’t always safe. Particularly if you’re old, disabled, or female. When I worked with the homeless in Chicago that was always an issue - does the mentally ill/disabled homeless woman go to a shelter and risk being raped, or does she try to find shelter in an El station or somewhere else to keep from freezing to death?
Of course, not all shelters are bad - but the good ones can fill up fast.
Infamously, a trans woman in Austin froze to death on the street after being turned away from a Salvation Army shelter a few winters ago.
Youth also avoid shelters for the same reason. The majority of the funds received from panhandling go to finding a hotel room.
Yes, I was referring to how things are done in my country and my city, not how it’s done in the US. We certainly don’t let mentally handicapped people roam the streets; people who can’t cope are helped for their own good.
I’m glad that I don’t have to make the decision between hunger and food or money because we have a working net.
All the more reason to give to these local charities instead of directly to the beggars… so that they CAN provide more beds.
I’d want to know WHY this person was turned away from the shelter. Was she a troublemaker? Or did they not have enough space? I wouldn’t want to automatically assume that it’s because she’s ‘trans’.
Some years ago i read a news article about the plight of a homeless, poverty stricken group of black transvestites, somewhere down south, living in an encampment in the woods. (reporting it just as I remember, but that’s all I got, can’t find this article anywhere). That situation would make some odd reality show.
It was specifically because she was trans.
Not entirely true. You are talking about Jennifer Gale. While she did freeze while sleeping outside, that’s not because she was turned away from shelter because she was trans. I heard stories of people offering her (and other Austin eccentric homeless) housing and she turned it down.
For the homeless with mental illness, they may prefer to live outside on their own. I have a friend who’s aunt lives on the streets although she is comfortably wealthy. Every now and then the family rounds her up and brings her home, but she just goes back to the streets.
I worked for a social service organization once and an old lady, lookd in her 60’s I would say, came in to arrange for her son in California to send her some money. She was a hobo. An actual hobo, who rode the rails, and also a fixture on Greyhound buses. Very pleasant and well-spoken, too. She absolutely refused to go stay at the Salvation Army Shelter overnight, as they would insist she take a shower and accept a change of clothes. She was rather peeved that her son wanted her to use the money to go home and I wonder if she really did go down to the bus station and bought a ticket to tha coast.
Mostly the homeless stay out of shelters due to the rules- no drug, no smoking, no booze, no pets and often you can’t be super filthy dirty.
It is always better to donate to a org or help at a shelter, etc than give money. If you must give, give socks and soft pre-packaged junk food (food bars, Twinkies, candy, etc). Never give cash.
Always is a pretty strong word. I’d say almost always..usually..etc.
I have a good friend who I met on the streets..he was homeless and has some mental issues. At the time, he was anti shelter in virtually every way possible..heck, he was anti society, anti friend, anti trust, etc. But he was honest..didn’t drink..didn’t do drugs. He made some bad decisions, and needed to learn how to recover and do things right.
I’ve invested a decent amount of money and time in our friendship..buying him clothes, backpacks, food..showing him I was there for him when things didn’t work out. I rarely give him money, but I made sure he’s got what he needs.
Today, he lives indoors with an elderly guy who needs help getting around. He takes the guy to the doctor, helps around the house, etc. In return, he has a stable place to live. When I first met him, he would have scoffed at the idea.
Working directly with the homeless is iffy…fully of failures and set backs. But there are success stories. So I won’t say there’s only one way to deal with it.
That being said..if you aren’t prepared for a long term commitment to a relationship..you’re probably better off donating to the charity, enabling people who can make a direct difference. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
-D/a
But you didn’t just give him money, you worked with him. That’s a huge difference. Just handing out cash is a bad idea. Helping is a good idea.