Frankly I don’t think merely screaming at homeless people to “Get a job!” is helpfull in any way. Is it really that simple? Where can they get a job? If they don’t have a car, how can they drive there? How will they look at a job interview wearing old torn clothes?
(Bolding mine)…if I saw a homeless person with stigmata I’d definitely give them money. 
Anyways, I’ve been reading this thread with interest as I’m never sure if I should do this or not. My aparment, work and a homeless shelter make a perfect three block triangle. I get approached from time to time for funds before I started wearing headphones when I’m on the street. For some reason, that’s created a buffer zone where I don’t get approached.
(Short anecdote here) About two weeks ago I came home to find a note on the apartment building’s main door:
I eventually found out what was happening. The resident was offering a warm place to stay for the night in exchange for $20.00 or for crack. The resident was given three warnings and was summarily evicted. I had noticed an influx of people attempting to get into the building before this had occured (the resident didn’t have the requisite telephone to utilize the buzzer system so his “guests” had to ride in on the coattails of whomever was coming in the security door authorized")
I saw an amusing scenario on the bus once in Austin. A lady was going around to each person on the bus soliciting spare change when she came across one gentleman who asked what she planned on doing with the money. “I need to get something to eat,” she replied. The guy had obviously planned on her saying this, since he proceeded to give her directions to a nearby soup kitchen for the homeless instead of any actual funds. She then thanked him and continued moving down the line with her requests for change.
The homeless situation is a lot more complicated than most of the “Feed the Homeless” advocates like to admit. Many homeless people don’t take advantage of shelters because of the no tolerance rules for alcohol and drugs (which is why it’s always easier to find a bed at a shelter in warmer weather than cold). Nonetheless I would imagine they’d be just as welcome at the soup kitchens, so the skeptics are probably pretty much justified when assuming that their donations are going to be going toward habits that will further prevent the recipient from holding down a job (as opposed to food - and to supplement my anecdote above, I once let a girl scout sell me a candy bar while I was waiting for the bus, and later someone came up and solicited change. I didn’t really want the candy bar anyway, so I gave it to the solicitor and, sure enough, got a disgusted look in return)
To make things even further complicated, I do sympathize with those homeless people that are out on the streets due to mental illness, because it’s not these people’s fault. Or is it? With all the addicts roaming the streets it can be hard to distinguish who was born with a mental disability and who has driven themselves batshit through a combination of iffy drug cocktails and exposure to the elements. If someone seems a bit “off” mentally and they’re soliciting change, I usually try to give them the benefit of the doubt and scrouge up what I can for them. But is it feasible to take this approach as a society at large, rather than on an individual basis? That’s a bit tougher question.
I was unfortunate enough to find myself homeless not too long ago for a period of about two months, during which time I was living on the streets. I was also night stocking at a grocery store making minimum wage, and I probably could have halved the time that it took me to get back on my feet had I not indulged in too much recreational drinking. It’s true that being out on the streets can be incredibly boring: there’s really not a lot of activity you can use to while away the day without spending money, which is probably why you see so many homeless people lounging around the public libraries. Consuming alcohol has the added advantage that it makes you feel good in spite of your conditions, and (speaking for myself) may be the only way you can relax in such a state enough to get any decent sleep.
Nonetheless, it can be a one way street, as I was illustrating above. Number one, if you are homeless and are in a fit enough position to hold down a job, minimum wage labor is nearly always available and for that rate of pay the employers are typically desperate and will take what they can get. In particular, if your job entails manual labor you normally aren’t expected to dress nice or keep all that tidy an appearance. In addition, this job may provide you with facilities to wash up, shave, etc. even if it’s just a public restroom. So yes, it is possible to obtain and keep a job while you’re homeless. The problem is with the minimum wage part of it. At $5.25/hr I was bringing home maybe $180/wk. To people who are actually begging on the streets that may seem a grand sum, but it’s easy to see how you can drink away enough of that money (if not all of it) to perpetuate your inability to score some sort of living arrangements. So to wrap up a long story, it’s not necessarily puritanical to make such a moral judgment toward helping booze up the homeless. If someone in my family actually had a job and a house but they spent so much cash on alcohol and drugs that they were constantly being threatened with eviction, you’re damned right I wouldn’t keep forking over money to help out without some sort of guarantee my funds were going toward a worthwhile cause.
Unless of course someone just bought the homeless person a meal an hour ago. Then maybe three more people in the next hour or two offer again. What is he supposed to do? By your definition, he isn’t needy. The fact is, he wouldn’t be needing food at that moment, but he is still needy. Unless it is nonperishable foods, he can’t really accept food every time it is offered and expect to have it in edible condition or store it where it is safe from scavanging dogs, cats, rats, etc. People need other things besides food, too. Are you more likely to get a sleeping bag by begging $1 at a time or begging a trip to the store and the purchase of a sleeping bag? It’s not as simple as you make it out to be.
Yeah, because it’s so easy to tell whether someone is healthy and employable just by looking at him. :rolleyes: Besides that, healthy people never get bad breaks and end up homeless.
Depending on who you believe, anywhere from 1/4 to more than 1/2 of all homeless are mentally ill. That’s a huge number and huge percentage, no matter which of those numbers is closest to correct.
[ul]
[li]A review of recent literature (Fisher, 1991) estimates 25 to 60 percent of the national homeless population to be mentally ill.[/li][li]Some 35 percent to 45 percent of the homeless have a history of severe, untreated mental illness.[/li][li]Approximately one-third of the estimated 600,000 homeless people in the United States have a severe mental illness.[/li][li]Find more[/ul][/li]
That’s as useful as saying “EVERY person is potentially dangerous.” It is needless fear-mongering. While it is wise to be cautious around strangers, it is also wise not to overestimate danger such that you become paranoid.
And how many mentally ill people have you known that did not assault you? How can you even know if they are mentally ill or not, especially if they are being successfully treated?
The fix is not complicated – give treatment to the mentally ill. The implementation is complicated. You have to pay for it, you have to convince those that don’t want treatment to get it, you have to find and figure out who is actually mentally ill, and the list goes on and on.
In 1999 in Memphis, a panhandler asked me for money, and I replied, “No, I’m sorry.”
Her reply was a rehearsed-sounding rant along the lines of: “No, mister, you ain’t sorry, you got no right to say that, you don’t care about me, …” Etc.
It wasn’t on a crowded street, and I never felt like she was trying to be threatening, but it was what I’d call a bad result.
I sometimes carry non-perishable food items in my backpack, which I will offer in lieu of cash, but as pointed out earlier, this can become impractical if there’s a lot of panhandlers.
Time permitting, I invite them to join me at a fast-food place for a meal. I have also offered food and money in exchange for work, which was usually turned down (not always though – one guy did very good yard work, prompting me to tip him generously).
I do not claim that there are no legitimately needy people out there – it’s just sometimes beyond my ability to tell them from the con artists.
The most annoying thing: being told, “I don’t want money, mister”, only to be asked for it seconds later.
I had a similar situation once where an African-American asked me for money, and when I turned him down he tried to pull the race card on me. I told him with my best deadpan, “the only color involved in this transaction is green, mister, and you ain’t getting any of it”.
Oh yeah, you gotta love homeless people with salesmen technique. I hate when they greet you like they’re just being polite and starting a conversation, then as soon as you stop and reciprocate their true colors show. Always a pleasure.
I am not usually one to give to the homeless, mostly because I simply can’t give to everyone who asks. I do usually buy from the Streetwise guys, because I feel like they are maybe trying to move out of homelessness. But then I feel bad for the others.
I dunno the answer, but I am reminded of a scene from that wonderful show *Sports Night *. There is a discussion between the manager of the station (“Isaac”) and the sports anchor (“Dan”). Dan says, “Well, what if I give money to a homeless man and he then buys alcohol with it?” Isaac says, “Well, I hope he does. Most of these guys are not one hot meal away from homelessness. They have tough lives; if a drink makes them feel better and makes them forget their lot for a few minutes, then what is it to us?” (I am paraphrasing, but it’s the general idea.) Since then that has sort of been my philosophy–if I choose to give them money, then what business is it of mine what they do with it? If me giving them money makes me feel better for two seconds, then I am doing it for me. I don’t think I will turn anyone’s life around.
Oh, lots. That was not the question, however. Guin said that there was a danger of assault from mentally ill beggars. Devilsknew said it wasn’t likely at all, said he had never been assaulted by a mentally ill beggar, and asked if she had. I popped in to say that the only people who had ever assaulted me were, in fact, mentally ill people on the street. Not that it’s important, but I just thought I’d answer.
I would certainly agree that it’s not a large percentage of all mentally ill people, but hey, I was living in Berkeley; chances are that if you live in Berkeley long enough, you’ll run into a few mentally ill people who will attack you. And possibly well ones as well, but that never happened to me. As I said, statistically insignificant.
I wonder how much of this would divide along male/female lines. I don’t know about devilsknew or theR, but Guin IIRC is female, as am I. AFAIK, the vast majority of women worry a lot more about assault from random people than men probably do. I would guess that women would be far more likely to fear attacks from panhandlers. (I would also guess that at least part of the reasons for my particular experiences were because I was a very unthreatening-looking girl.)
Wait, how is soliciting money randomly on the streets not being rude? This point is brought up all the time: “They’re people too, look them in the eyes”. In theory, yes, but in practice: these are people operating an illegal business on the streets, providing a service nobody wants, and forcing you to “opt-out” of the service by denying it and moving away. Compare to other services nobody wants, such as telemarketing; at least, there, you have more of an option to avoid the transaction. When being hit up for change, you’re forced to deal with it.
Another thing is, begging on the streets is hard work, and those going into the business should know its not an easy living. Why should they be surprised, then, when a good number of people either become irate with them or simply ignore them? Do telemarketers have some sort of expectation that everyone will attempt to empathize with their situation (shitty job, low pay, unappreciative public) and reach out to them as a human? Nah, its business. And those getting into it generally realize this, or they don’t last long in the business. Street begging isn’t any different.
“Spare change?”
“No, but if come home with me I’ll give you five dollars.”
Is that supposed to sound extremely creepy?
Re: being threatened by homeless people
I am female, and I have no worries about it.
I am bothered by people who feel threatened by homeless people for the same reason I am bothered by people who feel threatened by black people.
Some homeless people are dangerous but most are not, just as some black people (and white people, and all other stripes of people) are dangerous and some are not.
But it is unacceptable to say “I don’t want that guy near me, because he is black, and black people are dangerous.”
Why is it not similarly unacceptable to say that about homeless people?
I will give a beggar a bit of money every so often, but usually I don’t, and I don’t feel particularly guilty about it. My opinion is this:
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Give or not give, it doesn’t make much of a difference. These are people at the bottoms of their respective barrels, their lives are mostly misery and my spare change will not dramatically transform their situation. Someone else will eventually give if you don’t, and the amount you or anyone else gives is unlikely to significantly improve the beggar’s life.
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I feel no obligation whatsoever to donate money to every single person who asks me for some.
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The beggar may be a con artist, may be insane and helpless in society, or may be someone who has fallen on hard times and is trying desperately to get out of his or her situation. The thing is, it would be very hard to me to accurately judge the person’s real situation solely from a few second’s interaction on the street. So I give more or less at random, although I will always withhold if the beggar is flat-out obnoxious or threatening.
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Even if the beggar IS a con artist, they’re just trying to make a living, even it seems a rather stupid and short-sighted way to go about it. Every once in a while, I’ll give a bit to someone who clearly running a con, more or less for their sheer audacity.
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I try to remember that there’s always the possibility I could end up in a similar situation someday, and thus treat beggars without malice (unless they are obnoxious or threatening, as mentioned above).
I’ve spent a lot of time working and volunteering in shelters. When I first got a full time job in a shelter (through AmeriCorps) I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. The thing that surprised me the most was how diverse the people I worked with were. Just like in your workplace, there were hard-working people and lazy people, but never have I seen more extremes. The hardest working people I’ve ever met were homeless migrant workers or people with disabilities who were still waiting (and fighting) to get on government disability insurance. Some of the laziest people I’ve ever met were also homeless. I’ve met people in shelters who were well educated (Master’s degrees) and people who never went to school. Some came from “good” backgrounds, some from the worst poverty. They were of every race, class, and age. Almost every one had something–a mental illness, an addiction, a history of bad decisions, bad luck, immigrant status, or an abusive and poverty stricken famikly background–that made it just that much harder to get by, but there was no common denominator. Every story was different.
Here’s what I do when I’m approached by a panhandler–My church has a list of places in DC where people can go to get various kinds of help: shelters, soup kitchens, etc. I carry several copies of the list in my wallet. When I see a panhandler, I give them the list, usually along with a dollar. I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where I rarely see panhandlers, so giving a dollar to each one isn’t a big deal. When I just give the list, the panhandler would often glare at me in anger, because he was clearly thinking I was handing him money, and was disapointed to see just a card. When I gave a dollar as well, I often got a smile and a thank you that seemed more friendly and genuine than when I gave just the dollar. The dollar shows I’m not giving the list as an excuse to keep then from hassling me, but that I actually care. If I have time, I always offer to buy someone a meal, but I often can’t do that (and it’s true that they can’t always accept for legitimate reasons.)
Oops–Here’s the correct link: AmeriCorps
My friend always carries a spare toque in case someone looks like they need it. Sometimes they turn her down but I imagine that the ones who accept, at this time of year, are most grateful.
I never give to beggars–they’ve never bought ME a drink, so why should I buy them one? However, I will give extra food to very elderly, minority, or female ones if I have it (white males have to be SUCH screwups to end up homeless in this country that I figure they’re beyond help). Not only are there too many for me to able to give money to all of them, but I’ll never forget an incident in a laundromat in Cambridge, Mass. A homeless guy who was just sitting there and not doing laundry started having chest pains, and 911 was called. The bum asked to be taken to Mass General, which is across the river in Boston and in a different county from Cambridge, and was told by the medics (who were being very polite and helpful) that they couldn’t do that and that he was going to either Cambridge Hospital or Mt. Auburn (both fine institutions if not as famous). The guy refused. It was Mass General or nothing. But he couldn’t give them the name of a doctor or contact he had there, so the ambulance simply couldn’t do it since it was totally outside their area. They argued with the guy for about fifteen minutes and ended up taking his measurements and leaving. The owner was amazed–she was from Hong Kong and she said to me “He not right in the head! They’re two men, why don’t they make him?” I had to try to explain that the man had the right to refuse their help if it wasn’t what he wanted, but I don’t think he was convinced. The bum soon lurched to his feet and just walked out into the afternoon, his rights respected and his chest still hurting. It was weird.
Anyway, interesting article today on two cops whose job it is to go around and persuade the homeless to come to shelters. Even in this weather, it’s harder than you’d think, but some people that you think are homeless may not be to begin with anyway. And oh yeah, one of them says he doesn’t give to beggars himself.
Your right, Mehitabel–those mentally ill people without money or unlimited health insurance sure are screwups!–what was I thinking trying to help them? They’ve never done anything for me (until I got to know them). They deserve to be homeless!
Well I was thinking of helping all the homeless people here. But then I thought, ‘sod them’, so it didn’t work out well.