Should we give money to the homeless?

No. I give cold pop and fruit to panhandlers on hot days. In downtown Edmonton a pandhanler makes $400 a day and lives in a penthouse apartment next to the hockey rink. People who are worse off, like being spralled on the sidewalk, I give $20.

Short answer is yes. If you can spare it…

I give money to beggars.

“Should we?” I don’t. I feel like if people want to, of course they should but I dont. I agree with a few of the reasons outlined by the OP, plus I have a few other reasons of my own.

As it is your money and there are no rules about when, how or why to give it away, you do what you want with it.
I give them some, if and when I have some. Whatever they do with it is their business. I give it to them, therefore there are no conditions attached to something I am essentially undoing myself of.

What we should do is provide the money to develop housing programs for the homeless. And more support services.

I give because I want to give and have zero attachment to how, what I give is spent. if someone wants to buy a burger or a beer doesn’t matter to me. Whatever it takes to get them through their day. My few bucks isn’t going to make a life changing difference, but it might change their day a little.

This is a problem of whether to give someone a fish or a rob. Like you said, every homeless is different, so we can never be sure who is going to know how to use the rob or turn the rob into a toy, same with who is going to temporary need the fish or learn to keep begging for fish. It’s not our duty to judge how and why someone is homeless. And it’s not like every country has good support for the homeless.

I still think it’s necessary to get the homeless to programs that will benefit them in the long run, and I prefer to spend my money on a genuine program, but I can give them a little money to help them fill their tummy temporarily. Who knows, that homeless is only one step away from improving his life.

Yes. And since you’ve asked the question, I have no doubt you can afford it.

May I suggest you acquaint yourself with the project WE ARE ALL HOMELESS?

I wouldn’t say you “should” because it’s your money and it’s your choice what you do with it, but I absolutely don’t think we “should not” give money to homeless people.

I give money to nearly every homeless person I encounter, personally. I make more money than I need or deserve, and it’s a travesty that there are people living on the streets. If my money makes them feel a little better, then it’s gone to a better use than most things I would use it on for myself.

You ever hear the quote about criminal justice, I don’t know who said it, but it basically goes, “I’d rather let ten guilty men go free than jail one innocent man”? I apply that philosophy to many other things in life. If 9 homeless guys I give money to use it to buy drugs but one of them honestly just needed a sandwich, I’d rather contribute to the 9 habits and help the one guy not starve than the other way around.

I have made a few friends among the homeless community. Most remain homeless for a good reason, but others genuinely are trying to get a job and/or get a home. Among the genuine ones, I give cash or just stop to chat for a bit.

The last time I stopped to chat my veteran friend said, “Thank you for stopping to acknowledge that I exist!” He’s a sweetheart, and says he’s getting closer to having a place to live.

It’s a personal decision for everyone to make. I have chosen not to give money to panhandlers. Others choose to do so.

My reasoning is simple. If I give money, I want it to do some direct good. If I give money to a panhandler, it might do so good, but (as others have noted) it may go wine and beer and not have a positive effect.

Now, you can argue that it’s none of my business what the homeless person spends it on; that’s some sort of an invasion on his/her autonomy. My answer—tough shit. If it’s my money, then I want to see it used in a way that comports with my values.

@snowberry @Mariah and others disagree. That’s fine. They can do what they wish, as can I.

I would rather (and I do already) give to agencies that serve the homeless in Atlanta link because with them there is some accountability for what is received and how it is spent.

Do all you people realize how hard it is to get a job if you don’t have a place to live, phone number, clean presentable clothes? It is nearly fucking impossible. Even at Taco Bell… I have tried.

And then you factor in this simple thing. I have two options. Option one is spend what spare cash I can scrounge up to buy bus tickets to apply for jobs I will not get. Or I buy some food.

And RedDeerGuy1… You are broke as fuck. If panhandling is so lucrative why are sucking the government teet so hard. Go stand on a corner and get a penthouse. No degree in pharmaceuticals (or whatever your current fantasy is needed). Go fucking graft.

I have this same dilemma. On one hand, I ought to help the poor. However, they will spend that money on drugs. Many are even forced to beg by their parents or spouses and never see a single penny of that money; whatever they get, their parents take it for booze and cigars. I don’t want to contribute to that, but they’ll get beaten if they don’t get anything too. The ones that use it to survive may be left without a meal today if I don’t give them some money.
The problem is that you can’t see if the begar is the first or the second kind.

Humans need to be given basic needs one way or another, and the current system of mostly abandoning the poor is going to continue to be less and less possible. Really, our economics and politics need to be reinvented so they can work in the 21st Century without rising homelessness and worse problems that will come.

But to answer your question, it’s up to each person whether and how they want to help other people in need. Each case is different.

Contact your elected representatives at every level to encourage them to bolster humanitarian aid.

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1495

@RedDeerGuy1 – Bullshit. You ever watch a beggar for a half hour? Do you see them make the 20 bucks you suggested they all do? I’ve watched, in places a whole lot wealthier than Edmonton, and they are definitely not pulling that much in. A couple bucks, maybe. A whole lot more ignores.

Plus, is the building administration (in which they have a Penthouse) OK with that pee smell coming off of them? It’s amazing that they possess showers and have access to saunas and pools and spin classes and still look like absolute shit all day long. Well, I guess if you’re really committed to your job? And the keyboard cleaner you see them inhale! What devotion to the craft!

Get real. Anyone out there begging is doing it because they don’t have many other options. Sure some of them are doing it because they are addicted to such and such, but no one is exactly helping them out, are they?

I rarely give money because it just doesn’t help. Lack of my dollar isn’t the problem here. But to perpetuate the lie that these people are actually well off is in inhuman.

^I know they aren’t “well off,” but I’ve heard they can make $40/hour. I believe that. It depends on where they are begging of course. But I’ve seen them do well at busy places.

The thing is, they don’t pan handle all day, or they might pull in more.

I’m certainly not envious of them. And I know a great deal of them need help. In my city, lots of them are homeless veterans, and/or dealing with mental illness. Luckily, it doesn’t get too cold here, but I don’t know how they stand the crazy heat.

As I think about it. Wow, there are lots of homeless people…

@Smashley link

Your use of “should” & “we” is entirely wrong as any individual can do as they please with their choice of action.
That being said, I never give money to beggars in the street preferring to donate to homeless charities such as Shelter where I know the cash will be put to good use.

I do.

@ucme my context was not to imply people can’t do as they please. The word ‘should’ is meant to imply a choice.

The two biggest arguments I hear against giving money (IRL as well as online) is “they’ll just spend it on drugs/alcohol” and “they make a lot of money begging”.

To the first I say, “so what?” How would you feel if the people that you work for judged how you spend your paycheck? Decided to cut your salary/hourly because you are frivolous sometimes?

To the second I say, “so what?” Do you think that begging is easy? Stand outside every day for a week, in whatever weather, by a busy street, subject to the comments, the hard line being ignored, and a certain amount of verbal (and some physical) abuse.

Donate, don’t donate, it’s an individual choice. But claiming that you don’t donate ”for their own good” is, in my (sure to be nastily argued with) opinion, just high-horsed hypocrisy.

^I totally agree. If they need drugs or alcohol, whatever gets them through the day. I’m sure that plenty of us on Fluther do things that get us through the day.

Yep, to try and control how your paltry few dollars are spent is well, controlling, demoralizing to the recipient and it is certainly not “giving”.

Ideally, we should give homes to the homeless.

@RedDeerGuy1 – ohyoumeant “a single panhandler.” Like one. Well thanks for the data!

Glad you have the money to give “people sprawled on the street” 20 bucks each. That must get costly. I saw at three today on my afternoon walk.. maybe you also meant that you did it once.. or at least considered it.

I’m having trouble reconciling your moral high ground with your keen insight into the finances of a diverse and marginalized class of people.

Seriously You read one story, eight years ago, containing one quip from a cop, and now it’s truth for every poor soul you see on the street except the ones so miserabl? Of course some of them have homes. Notice, I used the term “beggars” and didn’t assume anyone was homeless. Also, you stretched this one claim from a cop even further than he’d put it. He said “apartment in a high rise, downtown.” You said Penthouse. Big difference, especially when you’re painting all these desperate people with the same brush.

I get it, you just don’t give a shit, but other people do. Pushing a myth like that is worse than apathy; it demonstrates an infectious blindness to suffering. Every time you’ve repeated this lie, all you do is provide more people with the “moral” pathway to ignore the dying human beings they see around themselves every day, and never consider their own role in the larger problem.

If the problem is homelessness the answer is not to give $20 or even $200 to one random individual with a homeless sign written on a piece of cardboard. Even if they really are homeless, which I doubt, your contribution will not change that fact. These people want your money for other purposes and the ‘homeless’ tag is just to engage your sympathy. As @ucme says your money will be far more constructively spent in supporting a homeless charity.

^That depends on why you give money. Reasons for giving vary as much as reasons for asking…

Well…I believe in preserving peoples dignity and I don’t care if the homeless person in question is mentally ill, an addict or whatever their issues. If I choose to give I do so with no judgement or strings attached. @flutherother They want your money to aide in their survival and If my few bucks helps them score another hit of heroin, so be it. Doesn’t change the fact that being on the streets is a miserable and demoralizing situation whether someone is an addict, a veteran, or a mentally ill person.

I don’t think it’s fair to claim that most are not homeless. In my community the homeless really are homeless, signs or not.

Money represents the power to move and access real resources.

Of course they need money, and the simplest and most direct way is to give them it.

Alternatively you can donate to a charity, whose executives will be on salaries that most people can only dream of.

and then we have the homeless shelter coordinator in my community that was selling heroin to the homeless. haha Gotta love the irony.

One bad apple does not poison the whole tree.

@Coloma I’m not sure begging helps preserve human dignity and beggars would be more honest if they said upfront they want the money for heroin or alcohol but very few do. Your community may be different from mine but I just don’t think the beggars here are genuine and I very rarely give them money.

@flutherother Well..my point is, dignity in giving is not treating the person like a child and mandating how they use the pittance we bestow upon them. Nor is it about being genuine, an addict is already ashamed of themselves so why would they risk being further shamed by saying they need drug money? Giving is about shared humanity, nothing more, nothing less. We should give because of our shared humanity not because we sanctimoniously make a call on whether or not someone is genuine or deserving.

Quite frankly, I don’t blame them one little bit. If I ended up on the streets I’d probably drink and do drugs too. Once someone goes that far down the odds of them ever returning to a normal state of existence and becoming self sufficient are very small. Not everyone has what it takes to pull off the survival game.

@Coloma Maybe, but I sometimes compare the situation in our countries with China where there are no beggars. There are poor people all right and some survive on unbelievably small amounts of money but they work to get what little they have even if it is growing vegetables at the side of the road and spending all day selling it in the streets. That to me is human dignity and deserves support.

@flutherother There are beggars in China, as well as various scam artists and racketeers.

Most panhandlers spend their money on food and drink before drugs. And given the shit, depressing lives they have—I don’t blame the ones who resort to drugs and alcohol either.

@flutherother The Asian countries are also famous for taking care of their family members, something that the U.S has quit doing, on a large scale, over the last 4 decades or so. Of course, refusing to enable a drug addict or alcoholic person is often the case for some of the homeless that are on the streets but given the cultural differences I don’t think we can compare China to America.

@Kropotkin Agreed.

@Coloma You are right about the family support network in China. It is very strong. The government in China has also embarked on a vast house building programme that provides social housing at very low rates. The result is that there are few homeless people in the country.

@flutherother That’s great, good for them! Yes, something I noticed when traveling in asia a handful of years ago, it was striking, the lack of homeless in the large cities.

I cannot afford to give money to all homeless people, and I do not want to prefer one over the rest. There are missions in large cities that provide food and shelter for such people. I just refer them to these missions.