Views About PAnhandling from PEople Who Work With the Homeless

 -- Written by Sue Loellbach

I really don’t like being asked for money. I tend to hang up on phone solicitors and throw away mail asking for donations, and even though I work at Connections for the Homeless, I sometimes cross the street to avoid panhandlers. When I encounter them, while I feel compassion for their need, I also feel irritation, frustration, sometimes fear, and shame. It’s extremely unpleasant.

One would think that, since I work at Connections for the Homeless, I would feel differently. I know that not all panhandlers are homeless and that not all people experiencing homelessness are panhandlers. I know that most panhandlers use the money they are given for food and basic necessities. I know that panhandling is a constitutional right, and also that it is an ancient survival strategy, particularly in urban communities.

So why does panhandling bother me so much? I've tried to analyze my feelings about panhandling, and the thought process went something like this:

• I believe that one of my responsibilities is to help people in need, particularly those who live in my community and whom I have the capacity to help.
• When someone asks me for money, I believe that they need something. Whether they tell me truthfully what they need is beside the point. I believe they are in need and that the reasons don’t matter.
• It’s usually obvious that I have more than they do and that I am capable of helping them.
• Therefore, I feel that I should help them.
• But I don’t want to. I want to give my money in a planful way, not spur of the moment. And I want to give it to people and places of my choice.

This last point is where the discomfort lies. I have a neat and tidy way of managing my money. Panhandlers both disrupt that order and call out the privilege that allows me to have that order. It is my choice to do what I want with my money, and when I don’t give to someone who asks me for money, it feels wrong, even when I think it’s the right decision, even if the person was rude to me, and even if I didn’t have any cash on me and didn’t have the time or inclination to go to an ATM.

There are many ways to justify not giving money to someone who asks you for it—I can’t give to everyone, it doesn’t really help with their root problems, they don’t deserve it, I worked hard for my money, etc. I have used some of these in my own head. However, none of them gets rid of the fact that I could help them if I wanted to, and I don’t want to, even though I feel that I should. In fact, panhandlers put this discrepancy right in my face.
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I did an informal survey of Connections’ staff to see if they feel the way that I do and how they deal with panhandlers. The bulk of respondents were ambivalent, like I am—they feel compassion, irritation, and frustration—much like me. Most of them give when they have cash on them—a few make a policy of not giving, and others set aside cash each month specifically to give. Almost all expressed anger, not at the panhandlers, but at our society which does not provide enough supports to people in need and makes panhandling necessary for some. All of them felt that panhandlers should be treated with dignity, but not all felt comfortable engaging with them.

In thinking about how to deal with my own discomfort and about how to advise the many people that ask Connections how to deal with panhandlers, I felt that acknowledging the tension we all experience when asked for money is important. However, it doesn’t help with what to do.

In this, I think it’s also important to consider why panhandling is such a hot button issue right now. While it is never going to go away, panhandling is cyclical—it follows the patterns of our economy. Right now, panhandling is on the rise, across the entire country—housing prices, poverty, and homelessness are all increasing. That means that panhandling will not decrease until the economy changes. And, importantly, Evanston is not exempt from this problem.

So what do we do about it, since we probably have no choice but to co-exist with it? Here are a few suggestions for what we need to do systemically (with individual actions you can take below):

• Panhandling is a response to poverty, so addressing that root cause is the best thing we can do. We should support funding for our City’s outreach workers, food pantries, clothing rooms, mental health providers, drop-in centers, work programs, and other resources—including homeless shelters--that can help people get what they need.
• Businesses, churches, non-profits and community members should help to disseminate information about all of these resources to people in need.
• Everyone should be aware of the local ordinances around what types of panhandling are legal and which are not—aggressive panhandling is not.
• We should create a community response to those who engage in aggressive panhandling. Fines are probably impractical for people who have no money, and arrests are impractical for an overburdened police force. Engagement in social services would be more effective.

As an individual, you also have a variety of strategies you can use to make yourself more comfortable:

• Figure out your own strategy. Years ago, because of my own discomfort, I made my own personal policy that, if someone in my neighborhood asked me for money, I would give it to them, and if they weren’t in my neighborhood, I wouldn’t. I don’t follow this policy strictly—after all, there aren’t strict boundaries around what I consider “my neighborhood.” And sometimes people outside my neighborhood trigger my compassion and people within my neighborhood do the opposite.
• Do treat people with respect, and if that’s not possible for you, don’t engage. It is always better to be kind, even if you can’t give.
• If the person panhandling is inclined to talk, ask if they are getting help from any of the many social services agencies in town and point them to one of the many resources available.
• Many panhandlers do not want to talk, and if you bring up services, they will disengage and leave you alone.
• It’s entirely appropriate to give periodically and let a panhandler know that you will be passing him or her repeatedly and have no intention of giving every time—that you are aware of them being there and will give when you can, so they don’t need to ask every time you go past.

If you are interested in reading more about panhandling, I have found the following websites that have good information. And for information on referring people in need to agencies for help, see this page on the website of Connections for the Homeless:
https://www.homelesshub.ca/resource/should-i-give-money-panhandlers
​https://homelesslaw.org/panhandling/