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It only takes ~10 people a day offering $5 to pay for a cheap motel for the night. And yes, survival is the number one priority. A motel room provides a locked door, a shower, a bed, and peace of mind for a whole day.
Shelters are chronically over-capacity and prioritize women and children. Ask yourself, what demographic do you typically see panhandling in your area? I know who they are near me, and those people deserve survival too.
Also shelters often require things like drug/sobriety tests and restrictive curfews that would prevent homeless from holding down evening jobs, which are some of the most common types of jobs available in that situation.
I don't know where you live, but there is not a single place in my city where I can't find water to drink, a cheap or free bite to eat, or even a dumpster full of edible, contained food, and of course, a steady stream of people thinking that their 1 of 5 meal offers in a day will somehow solve the 'roof' problem.
I'm not telling you not to offer food. But if they are not hungry and you would have spent $5 on a burger, but not 1/10th of a motel, you are judging, not helping.
I'm also not telling you not to donate to shelters. If we all did, things might be better systemically. Personally, I am highly in favor of a far greater tax contribution to housing people. But that struggling person on the street corner today won't get the help they need from wishful thinking or even a spare $5 to the shelter. But they could have a bed to sleep in tonight instead of a piece of cardboard if you give to them directly today.
I didn't mean to give the impression I thought the food/coffee/magazine I offer solves the root of a problem. Merely that it's a thing I can do to solve an immediate need.
The root of the problem won't be solved by donations to either an individual or a charity. The root of the problem, imo, is political and requires a change in politics. I think we agree on this point.
I hear you. But 10 people donating £5 a day also pays for a shelter to hire a motel room no?
I'm also not judging people on the street, well I probably have some internal biases to work through (more likely to ask a woman than a man, that sorta thing) but I don't consciously care much about the "what" they are. Also, those internal biases would present themselves no matter what I offered. A service that measured their biases would be better able to give equally than I would as an individual.
Here are the problems I, personally, have with cash donations:
Firstly, I don't carry it, but adding one more coffee to the one I'm buying anyway is no issue.
Secondly, it doesn't support panhandling as a career, shitty career choice probably a minority. So minor that if you want to argue that "The rate of professional panhandlers is zero (it isn't) and this point is invalid" I won't push back
Thirdly, it doesn't get to the root of the issue, I'm not judging if they're on the street for mental health, addiction, ex-convicts, bad luck, whatever, as in no-one deserves to live in the streets barring their own personal choice. But, I think solving the issue is beyond an instance of a donation. I also agree that charities don't get to the root of the issue either, but I do think they're better equipped than individuals. Individuals working with these services experience greater success than if they were to go it alone.
Not telling you you're wrong, just trying to justify my decisions (maybe to myself).
No worries, I actually didn't get that impression of you but I see that sort of sentiment a lot, so I suppose I was just trying to get ahead of it. I'm sorry if I was accusatory in my wording.
I agree it's absolutely a great thing to address a need, even if it's a simple comfort item. My concern just comes in with the "I'll give you this but not money because you'll just buy drugs" mentality that is so prevalent.
In a perfect world, maybe. I'd like to believe this, but I don't. Do you really trust a shelter to solve this problem for that specific person? I don't, but I can trust the $5 will go to whatever immediate need that person has. At some level, it's also a sort of marketing problem. Not many people are doing that donation to the shelter, because they don't see it. But you can plainly see the homeless person on the street corner in obvious need, and you can affect them specifically and immediately.
I have to say, at least where I'm at in America, this is a non-issue. We are a digital society, homeless included. I've rarely encountered someone who can't take a digital donation. Everyone has cash app, even if they have to take their phone to a McDonald's Wi-Fi to access it. Barring that, I could likely get cash back anywhere I could get a coffee. And we all know how inefficient a coffee purchase can be.
Sure, use your judgement. I do make a distinction between panhandling and busking, or worst of all, common street scams.
But do you really think someone would be panhandling if they had access to a better option? If you're able to inch them closer to the more comfortable life that you enjoy, why does anything else even matter?