I feel this way a bunch.

One thing I’d like to add is that there is this essay by Australian moral philosopher Peter Singer, called “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, where he argues that we are all quite immoral for not giving all our extra spending money to starving people. Since its release in 1972 nobody was able to really to find any major flaws in his arguments. Knowing this won’t make you feel better, but at least it’s not just you ;)

My approach: I volunteer at a local food bank, whenever I can. I know that nobody who is hungry is turned away, even if they don’t live in the official service area, or where here a few days ago. I donate to this foodbank, when I have some money to give. Not because I don’t trust individuals to make the right decision with money, but because I know it will reach and help more people that way. Also, I never carry cash.

As a dear friend likes to say: The medicine for fear and anger is Community, Action, and Compassion. Good luck!

So this was recently pointed out to me, and it really changed my view. You’ve seen how tv treats withdrawal, right? Try that on the street. Try that when you have to beg for the cash that feeds you, and without a lock on your door to keep your things safe.

In an ideal world, if you’re suffering from addiction on the streets you’d be able to get treatment. But harm reduction programs like that aren’t always available, and they are basically never popular or well funded.

Untreated withdrawal can be fatal without being homeless. But if you’re already in such a precarious situation, it seems so much more likely that you’ll die.

I live in the city, and when I start asking myself what they’re doing with the money I remind myself they’re already willing to endure panhandling. If they’re willing to endure harassment from cops and people who hate them for like $20, I’m sure whatever they need it for is valid.

If they want to spend any money you them on drugs/alcohol… So what? Like, I can guarantee you that if I had to sleep on the street whatever gets me through my day or helps me sleep does that. Giving homeless people food is kind, but honestly it’s very common already and they have other needs. I give them money, because I’ve almost been there a few points in my life.

It’s such a popular myth that people asking for money are somehow scamming people, or that they’re making more money than having an “actual job”, or whatever. The “yeah I guy I know said he saw a panhandler pack up his stuff and hop in a BMW and drive off” urban legend is pervasive.

I think so many of these ideas are ways for people to assuage the cognitive dissonance of living in a so-called “rich” country, or “best country in the world” or whatever, and then seeing people suffering. They don’t want to believe that circumstances out of one’s control can cause people to end up like that. They have to believe that poor and homeless are either faking, scamming, or otherwise ended up there by their own stupid/irresponsible/ignorant/whatev choices. Otherwise it shatters the illusion of paradise.

Thing is, regardless of what so many think, poverty and homelessness aren’t the result of individual choices. They’re systemic choices. They’re social choices.

Sure, maybe Frank spent all his money on gambling and lost all of the rent money. Maybe Alice lost everything on some MLM that her friends said was a guaranteed win. Even so, why did they feel like they had to do these things? Because our capitalist society prizes money over everything. First, by the fact that you literally die without it. Second because it’s a status symbol. It shows you’ve “made it.” It forces people to do desperate things just to survive. They wouldn’t be in those situations if our society didn’t push them to it.

Also, who tf is going to pretend? Why would someone willingly stand out in the heat or cold, tear their clothes, rub themselves down with dirt, etc. and then beg from people who do nothing look down on them and scorn them? No one is out there pretending to be homeless raking in $70K/year.

So someone ends up homeless. Maybe they had a car before becoming homeless that they’d paid off, so they were able to keep it. They’re probably living out of it. They might have also had a phone, tablet, or other personal electronics. Selling your car and your phone isn’t going to net you enough to stay in your home when it comes down to the wire. And if you’re facing having to live on the street, then why not have something, anything to hold on to. So even if the “panhandler got into his Beemer” myth were real, so what? People’s circumstances change.

Which goes to another point: people expect performative poverty from the poor and homeless in order to believe they’re “worthy” of help. “Well, if you have an iPhone you must not be hurting that bad” is such a common idea, and it’s so, so completely wrong. When then follows along to the idea that you (the collective you), get to judge who’s worth of help. You get to decided who needs it enough. You get to decide what they should or shouldn’t use the money for. It’s a punitive paternalism. And it dovetails also into the idea that so many people hold, that they cannot possible support universal healthcare, universal childcare, UBI, or anything like that, because someone, somewhere, might get something they don’t “deserve.” Which is a horrifying way to construct a society.

We regularly talk about “earning a living”, without realizing that this phrase literally means that you don’t deserve to live unless you can prove it.

I’m of the idea that you should never have to pay for the things that you would die without: food, water, shelter, healthcare. Those are literal human rights that should never be gatekept. And a society can make that happen. We have the ability and the resources to make that happen. And every day that we choose not to is an atrocity.

So, to bring it back around: if someone is asking for help, handing them a bag of goodies, or your leftovers from dinner isn’t helpful. You don’t know their needs more than they do. And cash is the best way for them to get exactly what it is they need. And if they spend it on drugs or alcohol or a lottery ticket or whatever other supposedly friviouls thing? Makes no difference to me. Maybe that’s what they needed in that moment. That’s not for me to decide. They need help, and if I can, I will.

We absolutely need to address the societal and structural issues that drive poverty. But NGOs and NPOs are only in it for themselves. They care about maintaining their organizations. Solve the problems, and then there’s no need for them. That’s not a world they want. NPOs cannot and do not help. Coming together to fight for a better world, getting involved in local politics, finding actual socialist candidates and supporting their campaigns, joining unions, finding ways to fight capitalism, those are the things that help. But in the meantime, the symptoms have to be treated as well, and that’s were mutual aid comes in. Helping each other and lifting each other up as best as we can.

I work in mental health and addiction. People are good at finding ways to pay for their addictions. Any extra money often goes to food, housing or health.

I don’t give people panning money in my own city because I’m often working with these folks. I will in other cities. If you have money you should give it directly to people. It works better than any other service delivery. And it makes them feel good. And it makes you feel good.

I was what you’d probably call a late bloomer and didn’t get my first steady job until I was 21 (and not because I was in school). With my first full paycheck, I stopped at a Wendy’s on my way home and enjoyed a meal that I bought with my own hard earned money. Sat down in the restaurant and just enjoyed it. I sat across from a window that I could see a man across the parking lot asking passersby for change. Sat there and ate my meal watching him the entire time thinking how fortunate I was. Finished my meal, bought a burger and fries and brought it over to him. The look on his face when I gave him this meal is burned into my head.

I give money to panhandlers somewhat frequently. I don’t care what they spend it on. I hope they use it for something they really need, but that’s none of my business. I spend money on a lot of wasteful things, if I’m being perfectly honest, and I have no moral high ground to judge what they want to spend their money on (because it is theirs the moment I give it to them).

I literally cannot imagine being homeless or a vagrant. I have been fortunate enough in my life to never even be close to it. I live in a place that has very cold winters. My heart breaks every time I see people out panhandling in that shit.

Mutual aid is one of the most direct, best ways to make the world a better place and practice praxis. It’s not an either/or situation: give money when you can, but you could also volunteer with an organization that’s horizontal and not one of those scammy, hierarchial ones with too much power. Also, if you give someone cash, it’s theirs now, and wanting people to prove they’re “worthy” beacuse they “really” need the money is antithetical to mutual aid. And also, i’m proud of you for wanting to do better than how you were raised✌🏻

1. I can read quick and you put it in proper paragraphs so it wasn’t a pain to read.
2. Yes they’re normal, you’re just trying to judge who you feel is most in need of what you can give.
3. If I have the money on me and can spare it then I’ll do it, but that very rarely happens as I don’t carry my wallet most of the time.

Personally my policy is to give them money even if they use it for drugs, as a former addict myself that money will keep them alive physically or mentally, and or both no matter what. And that is worth the short term damage of them potentially using it for drugs, it gives them another period of time (days, weeks, etc) to choose to change for the better. It’s a very painful and embarassing thing to ask another person for money for drugs (subtly or non-subtly), very painful.

But it’s better than resorting to theft or dying depending on what you’re addicted to. Withdrawal is absolute hell and I would if the situation arose give an addict in active withdrawal money to get out of it without much hesitation.

I was leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot about a year ago and there was a man with a cardboard sign at the traffic light. I was about to ignore him, and then I thought: “I just spent $50 on a toothbrush. I spend $5 on this guy.”

After that point, I started thinking. I’d always been told these guys would “drive away in a BMW at the end of the day” and/or “they’re gonna buy drugs”, and I never really thought about those claims.

The BMW thing turns out to be a Bigfoot story; everyone “knows a guy” or “has a cousin” that saw that happen once, but in a world where everyone’s got a phone in their pocket and a camera on their dash, I have yet to see such an event being documented. God knows the insufferable pricks who trot that line out would die happy if they could make that kind of evidence go viral.

And the drugs… I mean, maybe? I guess? But then again, I could give my kid money for his birthday and he might go out and buy drugs with it, too. I have no way to know that. I shouldn’t give anyone money ever, I guess? Fuck, as far as “giving out money” goes, I’m giving Wal-Mart money that they’re going to use to increase poverty, fuck the environment, and lobby Congress for bills that will inevitably have an actual body count. Giving money to a guy who’s looking to score a joint doesn’t even rate on that scale.

Not to mention that, as far as I know, there’s an equally likely possibility he’s going to take that $5 bill and use it eat something for the first time in two days. So yeah, that’s a gamble I’m willing to take.

And why are we more likely to give money to a guy shittily playing a guitar with a hat on the ground? Because we feel like he’s working for it? What a shitty way to think about people. Entertain me, poor person, and if you’re good enough, I might give you a pittance.

Or maybe it’s because you can just drop some change in the hat and don’t have interact. As an introvert, that does kinda sound like a selling point. But I’m cynical, so I’m pretty sure it’s more the previous thing.

If I’ve got more than an insultingly small amount of cash on me (that is, I’m not going to grab a couple of quarters out of my cupholder), and the circumstances line up so it doesn’t put me in any danger or at risk of any real consequences, yeah, I’m gonna give someone cash.

Don’t be paternalistic. Homeless people know how to spend money just like anyone else, and will spend it on the best thing for themselves because they are the only people who can validly make decisions regarding their own lives. If they need to self-medicate (“spend it on drugs”), who exactly are you to decide that is an invalid decision? And most likely they will spend it on things like food and clothing anyway.

Choose to help by giving someone some money or don’t. It’s a small individual action that may help someone else a bit. That’s all. If you care to make larger systemic change, you should really move on to organizing with homeless folks anyway; building networks of solidarity and helping to defend communities against the violence of the state and other bad actors. So maybe give someone a $20 but then sit down and have a conversation with them, and don’t think the one act of charity alleviates your social obligation to act with solidarity and help change society.

EDIT: PS - Your feelings might be “normal”, but that is only because they reflect the typical liberal propaganda perpetuated in society: that homeless people are somehow less human and less capable than everyone else and deserve their situation, rather than that they are simply victims of the capitalist economy that liberalism itself serves to uphold. These feelings shouldn’t be normal. So help work on them in yourself and in others. We all have things to learn and growth to do. Undo the conditioning this shit system has pushed at us since birth. Kill the cop in your own head. Then we can move on to the other ones.

What is your opinion on giving money to houseless people you see IRL?

I live in the PDX area and so run into a lot of houseless people. For me, it varies. The houseless are not a monolith. There are many, many different kinds of houseless for how they got there and why they’re there now. Many just need a bit of help to get back on their feet, many others don’t want help. You just have to talk to them to get to know them. I’ve had many conversations with them on the train and there’s a lot of good people out there who were given a tough break. I don’t give to every one of them, but the ones I know it will help I try to when I’m able.

.1. I like reading and I find different perspectives interesting and I like to stretch my thinking into someone else’s shoes - it helps be more empathetic and less rigid/extreme.

.2. These feelings are very normal when you consider societal conditioning tells us poor people are poor because they’re lazy or something and giving them money is a BAD IDEA BECAUSE THEY’LL WASTE IT ON DRUGS!!!1!1!.

.3. I’m poor. Like poor poor. Below the poverty line poor. I’m disabled and can’t work. My spouse is my carer. We make do and we’re OKish. Certainly better off than some, that’s for sure. Anyways, money has a lot more value to us because even small amounts can make a big difference. But I will still give money when I can, even if it’s a few bucks. But most of the time, I give an amount that’s still significant (in terms of what we can afford). I most often encounter folks who need help outside a supermarket so my go to is to always ask them first if there’s anything specific they need. Most of the time they ask for something to buy. It could be a staple or it could be a treat. I don’t care, I buy them what they ask for. None have ever asked me for anything ridiculous. If in the future someone does, I’ll be straight up that I can’t afford it and ask them if there’s anything cheaper I can get. I also always get out cash and give them that as well. Very occasionally I get some saying they don’t need anything, they’ve never asked for cash instead but I always say that I’ll bring them some back.
Sorry, I realise at this point I need to explain that in my country cash isn’t that common to carry around. Most people pay for everything by card. So I always have to get money out to give to folks.

Why do I do this? I used to think, “Don’t give homeless cash, they’ll just waste it on booze or whatever.”. That changed to “Only give food because that will actually help rather than wasting it on shit they don’t need”. To, “I can’t always know what someone needs so maybe I should just give money and let them choose. And hey, they have a pretty shitty and hard existence so who am I to judge them for wanting to take the edge off that. I do that myself too sometimes.”. My stance changed over time as I talked to people directly about their circumstances, talked to people who provide aid, talked to people about socialism and philosophy, read more on harm reduction, etc.

Now I’m at the point where I practice radical unconditional compassion - if I am to truly respect everyone’s fundamental human rights, I cannot make judgements based on my own personal perceptions and beliefs. Because they are just that - mine. I cannot pick and choose who has rights, which rights, and who doesn’t. Human rights are for everyone. If I expect people to respect my rights unconditionally, I have to reciprocate that.
Now, unconditional compassion can be bloody hard to practice at times. How can I have compassion for murderers or r**ists?? How can I have compassion and uphold the rights for those who have taken other people’s rights away?? First, because I can have compassion and empathy for people without having to believe the same things as them or agree with their actions. I can respect fundamental rights without agreeing to the ways others are breeching them. Second, because I realise that we are ALL products of our upbringing, society, genetics, conditioning, experiences, good choices, bad choices… There is no such thing as an evil person. There’s just circumstances and society that either supports us to make good decisions or ones that allow us to fall through the cracks and make bad choices. We as a society and a species need to look at ourselves collectively and understand where we are going wrong that we have ‘allowed’ people to have so little personal responsibility, that we have let people fall so far that they are ok with taking away the rights and lives of others.

And yes, absolutely there is personal responsibility. I would argue that a lot of society’s ills come from lack of personal responsibility (i.e. fobbing blame off on someone or something else and not owning and learning from mistakes). But I also know that lack of personal responsibility doesn’t exist in a vacuum - that came from somewhere.

Anyway, getting a bit off topic now lol. The TL;DR of it is that I want to uphold everyone’s basic and intrinsic rights without limitation and to do this I cannot pronounce judgements down on others. So yes, I give them cash even when some of them (likely a small minority from what I’ve observed) may ‘abuse’ my kindness. I’m ok with that. I would rather give to all and have some take advantage, than give to none. Treat others as you would have them treat you, ya know?

.4. Not reading, but I do enjoy Second Thought on YouTube and Nebula. I feel it gives a good summary of ideas and issues. :)

If you got this far, thanks for reading my dissertation 😅