[enraged_camel]

Why is it "bad behavior" to ask people for change?

A lot of pandhandlers panhandle not because they enjoy it, but because they believe they have no other choice. And that is often times the case: they don't have the resources (logistical, financial, social or other) or stable enough health (physical or mental) to find and hold onto jobs. And since they've got to eat, they panhandle.

People with your mindset are usually unable to really put themselves in the shoes of a homeless person. Rather, they think, "gosh, if I became homeless tomorrow, I would go get a job somewhere!" because for them, getting a job is relatively easy. They don't understand what chronic homelessness is like.

[Kalium]

There's a very common view that panhandlers and the homeless are principally the same population. It's possible that this view might not be completely correct: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/panhandling/endnotes/#endn...

[omginternets]

I skimmed through this and haven't seen anything supporting this claim.

Maybe I missed it. Could you elaborate?

[Kalium]

The footnote I linked contains several references and full study texts. The short version is that homeless panhandlers are definitely a phenomenon, but the overlap between the two populations is often significantly smaller than might be naively assumed.

[omginternets]

Yes, I read the text cited by footnote 26. I don't see where it says that.

[Kalium]

Please accept my apologies, I believe I've been unclear. Footnote 26 contains links to several papers that I believe include the salient data. A brief reading of one shows contents such as:

> Begging provided the main source of finance for this group of people with which to purchase drugs. It was not uncommon for them to earn £50 (Approximately $74 US) during a good day. Homelessness was an issue for around 30 percent of the beg- gars within the City Centre who were actu- ally sleeping in the bus station or car park- ing areas. Most of the remainder were technically NFA though, living in squats on the outskirts of the City Centre or tem- porarily with "friends," but likely to spend some time sleeping rough occasionally. One was living in a hostel and one had a permanent address.

[omginternets]

Ah, no worries. I see where the misunderstanding was :)

I've added a few of the links to Pocket -- my reading list for next week is complete! :)

[anigbrowl]

It really depends on the individual. but over time it's pretty easy to sort the grifters from the truly needy.

[ams6110]

> since they've got to eat, they panhandle

They don't spend the money on food.

[RugnirViking]

Can you link me to the study?