4 Ways That Holiday Help For The Homeless Doesn’t Help

Image by BuzzFarmers, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
Image by BuzzFarmers, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Everyone knows that holidays are the time for giving, right? You hear those clichés all the time in December: “Let’s remember the less fortunate,” and, “Don’t forget about those who have less than we do.” And who is a more visible “less fortunate” group than homeless people? Ipso facto: you should give to homeless people over the holidays.

Except that there are some huge issues with “helping” homeless people during the holidays that you probably haven’t thought of. We get so caught up with trying to do good over the holidays that we sometimes forget to question whether what we’re doing is actually good.

Here are four times you should seriously reconsider how (and whether) you are “helping” homeless people.

1. When You Give Money To Panhandlers

When you hear the phrase, “homeless people,” you probably think of folks on the street corner asking for food or change. That population is mostly made of men, which means that homeless women and children will get short shrift if your holiday “giving” plans involve donating to panhandlers. There are homeless people who live in cars, there are homeless people who work during the day, there are homeless people who are trying to get sober in a halfway house, there are homeless people who are working to build their resumes and work experience. You will almost never see any of those people panhandling on the streets, yet they need your time and money investments. But if your idea of “helping the less fortunate” is to toss some quarters into a panhandler’s paper cup, you’re not getting to them.

Women and children in crisis situations experience extra trauma compared to men, which is probably a big reason why they don’t panhandle on the streets. By tossing your vague charity at a male panhandler, you are perpetuating the idea that the streets are for men. I’m not saying you shouldn’t donate to men, just that you shouldn’t donate exclusively to them– donations to a shelter has a greater likelihood of reaching gender parity than a donation to a panhandler.

2. When You Are Doing It For Yourself

It makes you feel uncomfortable to see those disheveled folks on street corners and walking up to stopped cars with a cardboard sign, doesn’t it? And, in all fairness, it should. There are many theories on human self-interest versus interest in others’ well-being, but the general consensus is that because we are social creatures, we have natural empathy for others. It should make you uncomfortable to see a person who has so much less than you have.

But the question must be asked: how much do they actually have? There are many narratives from former homeless people about the various iterations of homelessness and panhandling. One former homeless person explains:

“Beggars have a uniform like any other kind of worker. They have to look as bedraggled and dirty and pathetic as possible. If you gave a beggar a chance to shower and wash their clothes, you would be damaging their earning potential. They make their money by manipulating the feelings of people who don’t know much about poverty. That means they have to play to stereotypes, some of which are like a hundred years out of date.”

Be honest: you think of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim when you see a panhandler, don’t you? Although poverty in Dickens’ time was completely different from poverty today, A Christmas Carol still resonates with us today. Why is that? Is it because of its universal themes of kindness and giving? Or is it because the patheticness of the Cratchit family resonates when we see the pathetic spectacle of a panhandler on a street corner?

Dickens actually wrote A Christmas Carol to make people aware of the blight of poverty and lack of regulations for workers during the Industrial Revolution. The first version of what would become the famous novel was actually a political pamphlet called “An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child.” So if you get the warm fuzzies from the story, and then you run out and give to a panhandler, you are kind of doing the opposite of what Dickens intended: if he were around today, he’d probably suggest that you contact your elected representative about minimum wage and the working poor.

But that doesn’t give you the warm fuzzies, does it? It’s not as romantic and gratifying. You want the payoff of the downtrodden person’s face looking at you with wonder and gratitude, and you don’t get that from standing next to minimum wage workers in demanding a living wage. So, now, tell me again, who are you doing this for?

3. When You Do It Once A Year

You want to feel that sense of community during the holidays– that makes sense. But if giving to homeless people only happens over the holidays, you need to reexamine your motives (see above). Homeless people need support throughout the year.

Yes, the holidays happen in winter, which is good, because homeless people need the most help during winter. But there are three more frickin’ months of winter after all the holiday glitter has been swept away (and I’m from Canada, so for us, there’s like six more months of winter!)– they still need food and shelter and life help during those gloomy months.

4. When You Are Condescending AF

If you give someone money without making eye contact, you are being part of the problem. And you don’t have to give someone money to not be condescending. Make eye contact. Smile. Say hi. Treat homeless people as people. Even giving money to a person who is not your employee is pretty condescending in itself. If you feel the need to do something for a panhandler or for folks in a shelter, be a human being with them. Chat and laugh with them. Give your time instead of your money.

 

Should these reasons prevent you from giving over the holidays? Of course not. When you do your best to give your resources toward meaningful change, that’s always a good thing, even during the holidays. Let the holiday “giving push” fuel your desire to make lasting change. There is a solution to homelessness, you know. Maybe encourage your local and state politicians to give it a try.