Don't give money to beggars – help them instead

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/06/dont-give-money-beggars-help-them

Version 0 of 1.

Amazing change is taking place in my neck of the woods. Every few days it seems a new restaurant opens its doors, a laptop cafe pops up, or a stripped-down vintage shop appears. Gentrification, sweeping eastwards across London towards the Olympic Park, is transforming the landscape. House prices are going through the roof. But amid the organic veg mounds and coffee fetishists one feature of neighbourhood life remains the same – the daily presence of beggars on the streets.

What is to be done? It's easier to say what shouldn't – easier, at least, as in clearer. That is, you shouldn't give beggars money. The argument for what at first glance can seem like hard-heartedness is not new but worth repeating. Jeremy Swain, chief executive of the London homelessness charity Thames Reach, has lately made the case again under the stark heading Killing with kindness."I am fascinated by the impulses that lead us to give money to people begging on the street," he writes. "In fact, to be candid, I am frequently left incredulous at the justification given for dropping money into the cap next to the sign that says 'hungry and homeless'."

For 10 years Thames Reach and others have been trying to persuade us that handing loose change to sad, dishevelled, beseeching suitors on high streets does more harm than good. Campaigns to stop it are needed, argues Swain, "because of the incontrovertible evidence that the vast majority of people begging on the streets are doing so in order to purchase hard drugs".

Outreach workers know it. The police know it. They are the ones who have to deal with the consequences, handling the harder cases, directing them to rehab, hoping not to have to fish a corpse out of a hostel's bath. Swain doesn't buy the line that austerity has spawned a new type of beggar, desperate only for food. The majority of those arrested aren't actually homeless. Denial and complacency among those who fund addiction the odd pound at a time can induce "hot waves of anger" in him.

I took this argument on board years back but I have stopped giving to beggars for another reason too. It is, I'm afraid, because I'm sick of them. One of the regulars round my way, a bit clever, fag in hand, became so persistent, so intrusive, that I got quite hostile, dismissing him with the same curt tone I find myself using with cold callers who plague my phone.

I don't like being pestered, even pawed, when approaching the corner shop with my small daughter. I feel quite insulted by the bolder ones' never-changing ploys: the proffered handshake and old pals greeting ("Hello, my friend! I need just a little favour …"); the tall tales about the meter running out, the urgent need for a bus fare, or of wives having babies a taxi ride away. I don't like being picked out as a sucker. I learned long, long ago that junkies lie.

These feelings don't fill me with pride. That is because I know that beggars, from the outrageously brash to the pathetically passive, are almost always in a truly desperate plight. It's just not the one they claim it is. Beneath my narkiness I want to help. What is the best way?

Thames Reach doesn't discourage engaging with members of street populations in London or, of course, other cities and towns: buy someone food or a cup of tea if you wish and, best of all, if you think they are sleeping rough, contact local homelessness organisations (the StreetLink webpage can direct you to those in England. Thames Reach points out too, though, that most rough sleepers don't beg and most beggars aren't rough sleepers. Local authorities and police, linked with voluntary groups and health and addiction services, are alternative avenues for constructive action.

If you want to help with money, give it to a relevant charity. And don't feel bad if, like me these days, you find beggars unpleasant as well as concerning. Thames Reach considers such feelings along with worries about the wider effects of begging on communities understandable and justified. Individuals doing the right things in response to it shouldn't fear they are colluding in the persecution of the needy. The effort to help beggars needs public support.

Some days, it seems to me that the trendier my neighbourhood gets the more begging there is in it. If so, maybe it's no coincidence. Whatever, the message is the same, wherever you live. Don't give money to street beggars. Help them instead.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.