Do you give to beggars?

[DaveShoelace]

Having worked with homeless people for about a year now i can confidently tell you that giving money to a beggar is often the worst thing you can do.

Definitely give them food, water, and if you've got a bit of time see if they're aware of where the nearest provisions for help are. I know in London every borough has somewhere people can go and get support but not sure about elsewhere.

But if you hand them money you could be handing them whatever is was that caused their life to spiral out of control in the first place. Addiction afflicts the majority of prolonged homelessness cases, and the easier they find it to get their hit the less likely they are to seek assistance from legitimate sources that will require them to be drug free in order to co-operate. You are quite likely to be helping kill someone in truth.

Thanks for this, what's the nature of the work you do if you don't mind me asking?

[david3103]

Pretty much always buy a Big Issue if I see a vendor, and we have a direct debit to Shelter.
Rarely give to beggars, although to be fair I rarely see any these days because I don't go into town centres that often.
I do think that buying them food is a better option than giving cash.

[George2Loose]

I saw a begger outside McDonald's once so went in and purchased a cheeseburger and a coffee for him.

When I came out to give him the food and beverage he told me didn't like cheeseburgers or coffee and could he have the money instead.

[RED-DOG]

I saw a begger outside McDonald's once so went in and purchased a cheeseburger and a coffee for him.

When I came out to give him the food and beverage he told me didn't like cheeseburgers or coffee and could he have the money instead.

Did you tell him beggars can't be choosers?

[doubleup]

A couple had just won the lottery.  The husband asks the wife "What will we do about the begging letters?"  "Oh" she says "we might as well just keep sending them".

[muckthenuts]

Also think people should maybe reconsider there approach of seeing someone is homeless on the street and automatically assuming they probably have a drink or drugs problem, tons of different reasons how someone could end up on the streets.

Just to touch on this point because i didn't get time to yesterday.

You are 100% right by suggesting that homelessness can affect everyone and anyone. A lot of people don't realise this.

However, in this country we are pretty lucky that there are a number of ways we can get help if it happens to us. The government for example supplies JSA and housing benefit. There are no shortage of libraries around in which you can use to access the internet, print cv's etc. Hostels, charities and other insitutions can provide support and a place to stay depending on availability, but in many cases this isn't really necessary as people can surely find some family or friends to put them up for a couple of weeks through the tough times while they get back on their feet.

Imagine what it takes to lose ALL of that, your benefits, the co-operation of charities, all your family and friends, so that you've ended up out on the street for a prolonged period of time. 99% of the time the culprit is a serious substance addiction. So giving money to these people isn't empowering them it's doing the complete opposite, just furthering their means to live a shitty, short life. 

[lucky_scrote]

If I have the time and I'm in the mood I'll sit down with them and talk to them. If someone is down in the dumps then human interaction is worth so much. I always make sure to sit on the floor and try to get to know them a bit, asking what they are doing to try and improve their current situation.

It's always very obvious who is on drugs and who isn't, so I don't waste any time talking to those people as that is beyond what I am capable of dealing with. I usually offer to get them something to eat, but if it's a friday or saturday night they usually are full up so don't want anything.

The last chap I spent time talking to was in Bristol during UKIPT. My life at this point is pretty amazing considering the debt and depression I had to deal with in the past, and I know how grim it is to be in such position. I spent about 30 minutes with him and he told me that on a Friday or Saturday night over a period of about 6-8 hours they can get about £50 or £60 which is quite impressive. I gave him £20 in the end because that's what I felt like giving up at the time.