this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2024
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Yes, if you have the means.
I work with a mutual aid group that engages in street outreach. I experience a lot of different cases and pretty much all of them would be benefitted by having more money.
Some people have a job, but not a home, and are trying to get housed
Some people have a home, but not a job and are trying to stay housed
Some people have neither and are trying to stay alive
Some people have both, but are so underpaid for the area they are in and are trying to stay housed
Some people are migrants and it is 100% illegal for them to work in the US and their only source of aid is through asking the community
Not one of them enjoys the situation they are in nor has made an explicit choice to be or stay homeless.
A lot of people who panhandle stay in encampments. These provide a small community with a lot of support structures for those there. There’s often someone who knows how to cook anything with any source of heat, someone who knows how to treat wounds, someone who knows what each person in the camp needs, and someone who’s plugged into the broader community and can get things for those who can’t (not all food pantries or lines are accommodating for wheelchair users and those with mobility issues can have trouble waiting for hours for food or even getting there). My point being that even if your contribution doesn’t help the person asking directly, it likely helps someone they know.
And if you’re worried about the whole “they’ll just spend it on drugs” thing, I honestly wouldn’t. Among the people I work with maybe 1/3 of them use drugs and very very few use anything other than weed. Employed and housed people use weed to unwind, why is it so much more evil if you don’t have a house? And if you’re working with the 2/3 of people that don’t use drugs than it’s not really a concern. I do realize that those numbers might be vastly different in areas that were more harshly hit by opioid issues.