[halleym]

No. I don't consider small amounts of money to be the solution to an individual's homelessness problem.

I feel strongly that giving money to someone who is deliberately spending their day begging is actually harmful to that person -- since any success prolongs their time begging. I guess I am assuming that the end goal is to not be begging.

A friend of mine once explained that his philosophy is that "it's not up to him to choose what they do with the money." So, he is very open to giving change to people who are begging.

I contemplated this for several months, and decided that it doesn't change my feelings. It took a lot of thought.

Do/Would I help beggars? Yes, but not by giving them my pocket change.