In the state we used to live, mostly it is men who were doing this. Today, we saw a very pregnant woman (about 30-35 yo old) doing this. (Confess: Even though she was likely doing things illegal, we broke down and gave her money.)
My wife thinks she likely has a family and has a husband who could not support her financially.
It is in a city where there are many houses/condos which are worth more than half a millions and some may be worth a million!
There are also two woman beggars who appear to be homeless and often panhandle near the grocery store we usually shop. We likely saw one of them almost once every fifth time, in a city where I bet the average household income is well above average (This is in the top one or two counties in the US, if I remember it correctly.)
Yes, I see a lot in New Orleans. Gov. Jindal had cut a lot of funding for mental health programs. Then again, I’ve lived in wealthier places with much better social services and still saw lots of panhandlers and homeless (DC area). Maybe it was affected there more by the higher cost of living. It is mostly men, but I’ve seen women too and people in wheelchairs begging in busy streets. Just awful.
Regarding the median household income of our county, I think I got the information from this article a couple of years ago. I do not trust its correctness totally. But it is likely one of the counties in California which have a quite high median household income:
“High tech industries are driving the gains in the Bay Area,” said Jim Diffley, senior director of IHS Economics, which prepared the study for the mayors. “The problem is a good share of the gains in the economy during the rebound aren’t going to the lower half or the middle class in income distribution. We have to be careful that economic growth benefits all income levels.”
That trend is epitomized by Santa Clara County, where 45.4 percent of the households have a median income of $100,000 or more, 11.9 percent are in the $75,000 to $99,999 range, 13.3 percent in the $50,000 to $74,999 category, 15.4 percent in the $25,000 to $49,999 range and 13.9 percent are below $25,000.
What difference does it make that a lot of people in that area have a lot of money, if the panhandler doesn’t?
I’m a softie - I typically roll down the window and give them food that I might have in the car (such as granola bars). I can’t help but think - that is someone’s sister, brother, daughter, son. Who knows how they got to that point, but there but for the grace of God that it isn’t me or a loved one.
We have a lot of them here, different people on the same corners. I have a friend who stopped and asked one to go to lunch with him. The panhandler agreed, but after eating, and a 20 minute conversation, my friend was convinced this particular panhandler wasn’t really interested in helping herself, which shocked my naive friend. She also mentioned having a college degree.
I don’t give them money, but will occasionally give them food.
My daughter has a lot right in her college town. They are permitted to be there and they actually have a permit with the exact location of where they are allowed to stand. Last semester one of them walked into a suite and used the shower. After that incident occurred the RAs became very strict about making the students lock the entrance to the suites- which face the outside like a motel. They should be locking these doors anyway but I guess some were not.
Ooh - only once did I ever see a dorm where the entrances were outside like a motel - this was at Tulane and it was an old dorm that for all I know was torn down since - but I don’t like that set up one bit!
@Pizzagirl I’ve only seen one, too, and wouldn’t have remembered it, had not the tour guide said, “There’s the dorm that had the murder a few years ago.”
In my metro area, there are numerous homeless folks who stand at the end of the exit ramps and hold signs. I know the tv stations have done exposes on a number of them, proving they have nice cars parked close by, etc. But it is impossible to know as you pull up to the light whether you can help a needy person or get ripped off by a con artist. Very frustrating.
In our small town, there are not many beggars, but the new con is to approach folks near their car as they are coming or going into the store. I used to try to be polite and listen to their story but am increasingly protective of my safety and don’t want to let my guard down and have a stranger close to my open car with my keys in my hand.
Instead, I donate to the Salvation Army. They have a great record of low expenses and having personal contact with the homeless, treating them with dignity. I also give items to our church group that ministers to the homeless in the downtown area. I know that my donations are going to reach people in great need.
@powercropper, I’m with you. I get very nervous when someone starts to approach me when I’m coming from or leaving my car. We live in a pretty affluent area, and I see the same people over and over, at the same exits. I might had someone a water bottle if it’s warm, but that’s about all the donating I do from my car.
Agree that if the thread is started to talk about the homeless, a discussion of the median income of any area is off topic.
Was just in Denver and there were a LOT of homeless folks on the 16th St. Mall. A LOT. Felt badly for them, especially if/when it gets cold , thought it’s likely there are lots of shelters for such conditions. What was noticeable is that many were smoking cigarettes. They didn’t look like short ones that were fished out of ashtrays. They looked like full size cigarettes that cost like $5 a pack. Yes, nicotine consumption is higher with some mental health diagnoses, but it is a shame that there isn’t a better system to address the drug/alcohol problems that are sometimes a part of the homeless problem.
I don’t give money to the daredevil guys walking up and down on the road dividers. They are professionial.
I give money to people sitting in the safe places in front of the grocery stores, restaurants,…
I am not happy about the motel style suites either, but unfortunately most of the freshman dorms are set up this way. It’s an open campus with visitors walking through all the time. We were told that a few years ago one of the panhandlers slept in the library one night.
Like @coolweather I won’t give money to people in traffic, no matter how admirable the charity is. I don’t like people putting their lives at risk for a charity. There are safer ways to raise money.
I was horrified last year to see middle school kids standing in traffic selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts to raise money for their band.
Not cool!!!
I tend to do giving in a lump sum (like to St. Jude’s), and giving stuff to goodwill rather than individual giving. Since it’s very difficult to tell the scammers from the needy, I feel better about giving to an organization that does some of that vetting for me.
We make charitable contributions to organizations of our choice- and do a lot of volunteer work. We never give to telephone solicitations and rarely to anyone on the street. Tried once to give food to a person on the street. They refused. Wanted only $. Somehow the expression “beggars can’t be choosers” seemed a propos.
We usually do not roll down the window for some panhandler standing on a traffic island. But this time we did because this particular panhandler is a very pregnant woman. She seems to be clean unlike some homeless. She looks like an Indian and speaks English relatively fluently, with a slight accident.
Actually we had seen her while we were driving to the bank (to buy some quarters to be used on the laundry machine at our apartment.) On our way back, we intentionally drove to the left-turn lane which is adjacent to the middle island where she was standing, even though we did not plan to go that way. My wife later saw on the rear mirror (she’s driving) that another person gave her something as well.)
Talking about living in an apartment which does not have our own laundry machine in our own apartment, we are lucky to have to live in such an apartment only two times in our whole life, the last time being the apartment we rented when I just graduated from the school and got my first job (ironically, back then, we lived in the same city as we do now, actually not far from where we live right now – we actually drove by the apartment that we used to live 30+ years ago – that apartment is more run-down than what we had expected it to be - guess what: We slept on the floor, not on a mattress/spring box for more than 3 months when we first moved into that apartment at that time, which was 30+ years ago.)
.
We usually prefer to give them food instead. At one time, in front of a grocery store, we saw a family of 3, one of them being a child who looks like a preschooler. I rarely saw a preschooler (or a slightly older) as a part of a “panhandler team” (Of course, the toddler did not do anything but sitting on the curb together with his mother. The father was holding the sign.)
A female homeless handler occasionally in front of the same grocery store wrote on her sign that she does NOT accept cash, only non-cash.
Just read this from the Internet about beggars in the bay area:
In addition, some justify doing little to fight homelessness because, in their view, many homeless people don’t want help and prefer living on the streets. However, researchers discovered that, on the contrary, just 3 percent of panhandlers don’t want housing.
Among the survey’s findings:
83 percent are men
48 percent are African American
31 percent are white
69 percent are single
26 percent served in the military
70 percent are 40 to 59 years old
58 percent have been panhandling for at least five years
53 percent panhandle seven days a week
60 percent make $25 a day or less
94 percent use the money for food
44 percent use it for drugs or alcohol
62 percent are disabled
25 percent are alcoholics
32 percent are addicted to drugs
82 percent are homeless
In total, 146 people participated in the survey.
Researchers also spoke with 400 people who had given money to panhandlers in the past year. They found that the largest group of people who chose to give were young working-class Bay Area residents. Empathy was a main driver; three in five said the gave “because they or a family member may be in need someday.”
Chicago area - yes, many. I don’t give money. We support food pantries, housing charities, Salvation Army, etc. Many try to make you feel guilty - I feel I can walk by with my head high. I’ve seen many civic/church attempts to deal with this. Not infrequently when churches gave vouchers for food at local places, these were refused. I’ve also compared notes with others who live in different neighborhoods. A person will sometimes “work” the streets moving from location to location with the same story - just need one time train fare to get to my new job, etc, etc. Of course, the same story is used in the next neighborhood and this goes on for weeks.
There are people who have their regular traffic corners to work also. Over time (30 years), I’ve noticed that there are fewer and fewer drivers that roll down their windows and the collectors don’t seem to expect much any more - they never glance at me. Our Pastor did have a very moving story about being back in “the old neighborhood” and getting this request at the window of his car from a young man he had prepared for confirmation. I believe that one had a happier ending - or at least it made a good homily.
I don’t mean to sound heartless - I’m just always skeptical any more. I do find the entire situation very sad. The worst is when a mom with kids in tow shows up outside our church with a sign that she just wants to buy food for her kids. I don’t buy into that, but I do wonder about what life is like for a mother who models this kind of behavior for her children. Our church is quite active in helping individual families; I’m certain there is a reason she is not approaching a more recognized charity for assistance. Any thoughts/comments on that situation - how to handle walking out of church and being asked for hand out - would be welcome. I may come armed with a list of social service agencies soon.
Are there any other communities where the newspaper “Streetwise” is sold? This has been around for 20 - 30 years here, but seems a bit less popular than it was initially. The paper is put out by homeless and formerly homeless individuals, many are educated. The homeless can buy these newspapers, then sell them on street corners to the general public. The idea is that they are making money of their own on their own rather than a handout. I often buy the paper.
