>Not to defend not giving money to the homeless Then I'll defend it. The money would be much better utilized donated to programs that try to target homelessnes

>Not to defend not giving money to the homeless Then I'll defend it. The money would be much better utilized donated to programs that try to target homelessness as a whole. The old "they'll just spend it on drugs/alcohol/etc" cliche is actually backed by studies: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/should-you-give-money-to-homeless-people/72820/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/should-... Some points from the article: "We choose to donate money based on the level of perceived need. Beggars known this, so there is an incentive on their part to exaggerate their need, by either lying about their circumstances or letting their appearance visibly deteriorate rather than seek help." "If you travel to a poor city, for example, you'll find swarms of beggars by touristy locations. If the tourists become more generous, the local beggars don't get richer, they only multiply." Further, a controversial issue is that of fake homeless people, which undoubtedly exist. Some say the easiest way to tell is if they'll accept food instead of money. From what From what I remember of someone's experience relayed in a reddit thread (which I'll admit has the potential to be exaggerated or unreliable) the majority of homeless people who said they needed "money for food" wouldn't accept food or would throw it away as soon as they thought the giver wasn't looking, indicating they were actually just after money. If you feel like you absolutely must give directly to homeless people, carry around wrapped protein bars or something similar. Encouraging panhandling is just exacerbating the problems. For some anecdotes, the last time I went to a convention in Baltimore, I heard stories about multiple people being assaulted or verbally harassed by panhandlers. In one case the provocation was that the person "didn't give them enough." The area is full of career-beggars who have no interest in actually improving themselves, like this one guy who pretends to be a youth baseball coach to collect fake donations every year. I try to stay indoors as much as possible but they even come inside the hotel lobbies to try to scam people sometimes. My experience and hearing those assault stories made me wonder how many of the people on this site decrying homeless-deterrent architecture have actually been in an affected area before.