I personally do not, but I think it’s a personal decision. I have a background in working for homeless non-profits. If you have a desire to really help and be part of moving towards a solution, find a local group and donate and/or volunteer with them.

The reality of handing money to someone is at best it’s a band-aid, and more often you’re just buying that night’s substance of choice. No judgement there, if I was homeless and likely not receiving needed medical and mental health treatment, I’d be high and drunk as often as I could too. Hell, I’m high as often as I can be now. Nevertheless though, I feel comfortable choosing not to participate by handing money when asked and I don’t begrudge anyone who does.

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.

Yes.

Yes, they might use it for drugs or alcohol, that’s fine, it’s as important as food sometimes.

Non profits and charities are great in theory, but most redirect less than 10% of what they receive towards the homeless look at LA’s projects as the most glaring example, it “takes” 10 million+ per single housing unit for temporary housing. Not due to cost, but simply corruption at every level. From the non profits involved to the government itself.

Giving directly to the homeless skips all that.

Or to put it another way, you can’t fix the problem or treat symptoms by continuing to give money to the cause of the problem. Giving directly at least treats the symptom.

I never give money to the homeless. They’ll just buy drugs and alcohol.

I keep it for myself. So I can buy drugs and alcohol.

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For real though, I try to give $5 if I can. Some people will waste it, some will make good use of it, and it’s impossible to tell from the outside looking in. So I might as well swing at every ball. Giving to charities is good too, but they don’t reach everyone (for all sorts of reasons).

I keep some cash in my pocket specifically in case I run across someone asking for money.

And then I live like a hermit, almost never going anywhere, so it’s rare that I actually have occasion to give in that way, but you know.

Also, in my experience, it’s not necessarily homeless people who need the money. I’ve seen people (claiming they’re) close to losing their housing who are hoping to raise enough money panhandling to make their rent this month.

Of course, if you are struggling financially, it’s definitely very reasonable to decline to give in that context. I suppose if anything feels “off” as well. (Though I wouldn’t want to bias folks in the direction of thinking that there may be any reason to be more suspicious of people in need than others.) But over all, I do think it’s something that can make a hugely, vitally positive change in someone’s basic wellbeing.

It’s better to buy them food or give them homeless care packs. There are good lists online of things you can give to homeless folks that will help them a lot, socks are a main staple.

I give all three depending on the scenario. I almost never have cash on me, so I don’t hand out money very often just because of that.

It’s important to show them compassion and care. Homeless people are often treated like trash by most people. Saying a kind word to them and giving them a small gift might be the only instance of kindness they experience for days, possibly weeks.

I really can’t see a downside. If they seem to be obviously homeless or they’re actively asking for help, they probably need it. Though it’s extremely unlikely that your meager contribution will be the change that suddenly allows them to magically overcome poverty and become middle class home owners with well paying jobs, that doesn’t really make them need it any less. Whatever they use the money on, it’s going to be what they need in the immediate term, be it drugs or food or anything really and unlike others this is the only way they can really get that money so they do need people to occasionally part with it. You’d only give it to them because you had it spare anyway and it’s not going to make them more homeless than they already were. If the concern is that it’s not addressing the root personal problems that put them individually on the street or the root social problems that put many on the streets, that’s completely true but if you’re serious about doing that you’re going to need more than the couple of bucks in your pocket anyway. That’s going to be concerted massive political will and financial effort and several people’s lifetimes worth of work all at the same time, besides you can always involve yourself in some way in such efforts and hand over spare change. The only times I can really think of where it makes sense not to give directly are: you can’t afford to do it, the physical circumstances of handing it over are dangerous/impractical, you don’t care about homeless people or other people in general or you subscribe to some nasty Malthusian ideas and think yourself somehow benevolent for condemning people to destitution as some kind of “cruel to be kind” doctrine in which case you’re unlikely to have given this a lot of thought anyway and don’t really face much of a dilemma.

In this world of digital payments, I don’t have cash on me. When I do, I give a little here and there and its usually met with thanks.

I wish there was an easier way give 50p or something digitally by tapping my card against a reader of theirs, but the setup cost and the chance of misuse is high

Would I rather live in a world where sometimes people take advantage of kindness or a world where nobody helps anyone in need? I’ll take the former.

Your money will go further if you donate to a local charity or food bank. That being said, I’ll give money occasionally. It’s nice to let them know others do genuinely care about them and their plight. Usually I’ll talk to them first. If they’re not too pushy I’ll slip them enough for a couple of meals. Subway gift cards are a good way to go. There’s lots of them and you know your money will go towards food. Most importantly treat them with respect and dignity

No. It would be better to give your money that fixes the underlying issues why the person is homeless in the first place.

There are a lot more homeless people about than the one you’re giving money to, and giving money to one homeless person will not fix their situation.

Do you think the best way to help homeless people is to give them money directly, or donate it to organizations that help them? Not sure if there’s a right answer.

Depends on your priorities and goals.

Do you want to feel good momentarily for doing something good? Get some interpersonal gratitude? Then yes.

Do you want to reduce homelessness in your community? There are probably local projects for that, where your money will be used more effectively.

Do you want to be altruistic, helping people in need and want your money to be used as effectively as possible? Look into reputable charities (like Helen Keller Intl, preventing child blindness and death with Vitamin A is hella cost effective) or funds. I looked into the same thing some time ago and stumbled upon givewell.org. They evaluate charities based on a number of ratings and choose the most effective ones for their funds. Been donating through them monthly for a year now. Also, it is tax deductible so i get almost half of it back.

This is an empirical question that people are baselessly speculating about from the armchair, when we’ve know the answer for years. Even the neoliberals over at The Economist think it’s a good idea.

It’s better to give it, despite the risk of some people just using it for drugs/alcohol (addiction is a health issue anyway)