So what's your policy about giving money to homeless people?

I ignore them and seriously couldn't care less. They always stink of alcohol and cigarettes, and half the time have dogs too. If they didn't waste money getting wasted and feeding their dog, they could afford to have somewhere to live so it's their own damn fault.
 
dowie said:
i live in London and AFAIK there is enough sheltered accommodation etc.. to cater for our homeless population
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Unfortunately you know wrongly.

I work with hostels in the borough of Camden and there are nowhere near enough hostel places for the amount of homeless in the borough.

Another thing you're missing here is that despite having accomodation many of the residents in these hostels spend all day on the streets begging.

As for the question in the OP, No I don't give to beggers and No I don't feel guilty about it.
 
I don't give them money anymore. Most of them get over £30/day fom begging. I don't feel guilty, but I do feel sorry for some of them, though not the ones trying to guilt-trip you with a pathetic plea for money or the ones with dogs they can't look after properly.

I don't see why other people should give them hand-outs for doing nothing and not trying to do anything about their situation. It will most likely only go on feeding their addiction.
 
dymetrie said:
I work with hostels in the borough of Camden and there are nowhere near enough hostel places for the amount of homeless in the borough.
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Fair enough - I was only saying 'As far as I know'

Another thing you're missing here is that despite having accomodation many of the residents in these hostels spend all day on the streets begging.
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I'm well aware of that bit though which is why I don't give to them directly - I've got no problem donating to shelter etc... when people come round collecting.

I certainly wouldn't be rude to them either - some of their situation is probably self inflicted but a lot of things in life are also down to chance - AFAIK a lot of beggars are ex-forces(infantry etc..) who've been institutionalized then kicked out at aged 40 or so with no applicable civi skills - I feel sorry for guys like that as they've probably been through a lot and though they may have developed an alcohol problem I wouldn't completely blame them for it.
 
I used to ignore them.. now I don't. I don't always give them money and certainly not the foreign ones but if I see a homeless guy I will chuck money in his cap.

So he will use it to buy booze or drugs, so what, I have looked that situation in the face and if I was there I would want to get drunk or smashed too,
 
ignore em, if they actually cared about themselves and 'tried' to get a job or some sort of housing then maybe, they have no respect for themselves so why should we??
there may not be enough housing for all of them but the ones who actually want to get off the street will, the others want to be there so they can wallow in their self-pity.

edit; no disrespect but how hard is it to walk into an open door or what not and say "i need help"
 
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Why on earth would anyone ever give money to these people ?
They have chose the easy way out, the lazy way, zero responsibity, getting drunk and/or taking drugs.
The hard way? Job, mortgage, raising a familly with all joys and sorrows which this entails.
 
Scuzi said:
I ignore them and I don't feel guilty. They are homeless and begging on the street because they are losers and vagabonds. I don't believe in giving away my hard earned cash to losers and vagabonds.
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Again Scuzi sums up. If I may add my principle:

If you give to one then you must give to all.

How can you say who is more needy than who etc. Normally just walk past them with Scuzi's attitude..
 
I always give a firm NO. This is because I was once asked for cash for food from a beggar just as I exited a sandwich shop, I offered him the sandwich and he refused. I asked why and he insisted it was money he wanted and I refused to subsidise his liquid diet.

I was also accosted by an Eastern European immigrant who shoved a A4 sized piece of card in my face which read "I am Romanian refugee, I don't speak English. I have no money or food, I have baby to feed, pelase give kindly'. Now, given that I used to work for Social Services I knew this was nonsense so my answer was 'Sorry but we've got enough beggars of our own without you joining their ranks too'. Her answer, given that she claimed not to understand the lingo was '**** you Nazi' and she stormed off. Bloody chancer.
 
Haiku said:
There's a real problem in Edinburgh at the moment with Romanians harassing people for money on the street. If I get asked by one more Romanian for "change for the bus", I'm going to push the swindler in front of an oncoming double decker. :mad:
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ah, thats who they are, was wondering.

you cant even walk down princesses street anymore with all the gouranga people, snap fax, bums etc...
 
I ignore them. I won't make false claims about being concerned what they would do with any money I gave them; I ignore them because I can't be bothered with them and it's not my problem.
 
No.

From someone who has been homeless (As in on the streets homeless, not dossing with mates homeless) in December.

Never begged though. Had enough gumption to do a days work for some cash in my hand.

Now, if I'm asked for some food etc, and seem genuine, then if I can spare it, yes.
 
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