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At home: Nothing. Genuine homelessness isn't really a problem. There's this joke that we have a government programme called "winter" that takes care of this. Truth is, there are actual government programmes in place that takes care of this as well - It is written in law that anyone who cannot afford a place to stay, as well as basic necessities will have this covered.
Abroad: When not in what causes fox news talking heads to clutch their pearls over socialist hellscape societies (Norway), I'm a lot more giving. Plus, I usually carry some currency that I will no longer need once I leave. I especially remember the happy outcry of a beggar I walked past while visiting this developing country. I was on my way to pick up some supplies the last day before heading for home. Repeated "Bless you!"-s once he realized that the stack of leftover cash included quite a few 20$ bills.
In short, he obviously needed them more than I, so I gave what I could.
Oh, and if it counts, I often give to buskers as some of them are actually pretty good.
I’ve lived in Norway for 5 years now. The only people I see asking for money are well known to locals, and I suspect that the majority of them weren’t born here either and have been forced to do this by someone else, who is perhaps holding their passports? Idk, it’s almost all women or disabled men that… don’t look Norwegian, and they all hive signs with Vipps numbers (cashapp/venmo for those not familiar). There is also one Norwegian guy in town who is always hustling people and tourists with the same story about how he just needs money for the train ride to Voss, so he can go to rehab there. I came here from San Francisco so it was a huge culture shock to see so few down on their luck, and even then, largely keeping out of your face. I don’t feel threatened, I just feel badly for them.
Yeah, there was this trend starting 15-20ish years ago where people from Eastern Europe came here to beg. Apparently it's profitable to travel all the way to set up shop. I never give these people anything. If they truly were so down on their luck as they claim to be, they probably would not be able to invest the necessary resources into traveling across the continent to begin with.
Norwegians saw this:
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And said "What if we weren't stupid and used it for something good"