To give or not to give

yes, I am using the most overused Banksy image ever... deal with it

‘A day without a buzz is a day that never wazz’ – Melbourne Street Person

Those eloquent words were the response given to me when I asked how a panhandler was going to use their money.

How to deal with panhandling raises a number of issues. For what reason do you give or not give? Do you give to children? To the clearly intoxicated? Do you buy the Big Issue or other street magazines?

Jeremy Waldron has characterized begging as "ethical confrontation" and there is certainly a lot to consider when choosing whether to give or not to give. There are a number of common assumptions about begging which often sit in direct confrontation with each other.

Do you think that panhandlers beg because they have fallen through the social safety net OR do you think panhandlers make considerable amounts of money and spend most of it on their addictions? These assumptions raise the questions of whether giving money to panhandlers is beneficial to them or not.

Inevitably the reality is complicated and it is clear from studies carried out in Australia, Canada and the US that many people would not gain a steady middle class income through begging outside McDonalds or on public transport.

Louise Stark commented that “Panhandling is generally engaged in when other economic resources . . . have been exhausted. Earnings are rarely saved. They are spent on short-term purchases, generally alcohol or drugs, occasionally food.”

As with more conventional occupations, alcohol and drugs put a crimp in a beggar's earnings potential. In her 1992 study Stark claimed that the 'average' panhandler works the streets only until he or she has enough money to purchase a bottle of beer or fortified wine, a vial of crack, or, rarely, a meal at a fast food restaurant.

A study in Toronto found that the average income of a panhandler was 638$ a month; about 21$ a day. When you factor in food, accommodation and the high instances of drug problem this is not an easy living. The amount of money panhandlers spend on alcohol and illicit drugs is significant, but much lower than commonly assumed.

While we have all heard anecdotal stories of how beggars can earn X-amount a day and all of it went to their addictions the majority of panhandlers in Toronto are homeless and living in extreme poverty.

Michael Scott summarized matters as well as anyone: "Most evidence confirms that panhandling is not lucrative, although some panhandlers clearly are able to subsist on a combination of panhandling money, government benefits, private charity, and money from odd jobs such as selling scavenged materials or plasma."

Well!!! Should we give!?

The key arguments that I have come across against giving are:

• That if you give money to panhandler, you almost certainly spend your welfare budget helping the wrong people.
• That giving panhandlers money is irresponsible because it reinforces negative behaviour (note: this logic dictates that begging is inherently deemed a negative behavior).

These claims somehow discriminate between 'good' and 'bad' panhandling, with the bad variety being easily recognizable. The problem with these kinds of optimisations is that they rely on a mental and financial compartmentalisation that doesn’t make sense nor equates to real action. You have to differentiate personal indulgence money from altruism money, but if it is ethically sub optimal to give your charity money to a panhandler, then what does that make the next few dollars you spend on an expensive coffee or practically anything non-essential?

There’s no easy answer, only stories of how we wrestle with the issue. It’s always an internal conflict. Whether you give or not give will still be your decision but the largest factor that should be taken into consideration is that behind that request for money is a person. A person who should be respected, even if you do not respect their current mode of income.

Arthur Schafer summarized it well:

“When society silences a panhandler or banishes the panhandler from places which have traditionally been public places, such banishment comes close to being a denial of recognition. Each of us has a fundamental need to be recognized by our fellow citizens as a person with needs and views. The criminalization of panhandling is not only an attack upon the income of beggars, it is an assault on their dignity and self-respect, on their right to seek self-realisation through public interaction with their fellow citizens.”

note: In Australia begging is a criminal offence in most of the states and territories.