What do you think about panhandlers?

Like a lot of other cities, Denver is strying to crack down on panhandling, largely because they have such a huge number of panhandlers. A substantial 61% of Denver merchants rated panhandling as the number one problem their business faced, and 72% of citizens agreed that it was one of the most serious problems in the city. As a result, the city is considering enacting harsh restrictions on vagrancy and camping, and is building over 3,000 new low income housing units for the homeless.

Of course, the main reason that there are so many panhandlers in Denver is that it's so lucrative. According to a recent survey conducted by the Downtown Denver Partnership, 42% of the population has given money to panhandlers in the past year and the average person there gives $1.84 each time he or she is approached by a panhandler, for a total of about $25 a year. This adds up to an awful lot of money - a total of over $4.6 million, divided among about a thousand panhandlers. That's an average of about $50,000 per active panhandler per year, with confidential interviews with panhandlers indicating that they make between $35,000 and $100,000 tax free per year and view panhandling as the equivalent of a job or a profession. Some even have homes and support families on their panhandling income.

One of the ironic aspects of this is that the survey shows that the most generous group to donate to the panhandlers are those who earn less than $25,000 per year, about half of what the average panhandler makes. This puts us in the strange position of having to look at street beggars as heartless exploiters of the working class, leeching off of the paltry income of hard working secretaries and bus boys.

At a cost of $174 per arrest the city has determined that it's not worth arresting panhandlers, because there are so many and if they arrested them all as often as they'd need to in order to discourage them, the cost would be so high it could never be justified. They wisely thought it made more sense to spend the money on building housing for the homeless. That's great, but it doesn't really address the panhandling issue, because professional panhandlers and those who are homeless and need inexpensive housing and a hand-up are not the same people at all. Nothing they do to reduce homelessness is going to help with the panhandling problem, because panhandlers make enough money that they don't need to be homeless unless it's a matter of lifestyle choice - which it actually is for a lot of them.

This leaves Denver in the peculiar situation of having to essentially herd their panhandlers, using the police to keep them moving and interfere with their begging, so that panhandlers find working in Denver to be less and less profitable, so that they decide to move on to a friendlier city. Along with this there's a concerted effort to encourage people to give money to charities like the scandal-ridden United Way, with the hope that if they donate to charities they won't feel obligated to give money to panhandlers on the street. This approach doesn't take into consideration the psychology of panhandling, where the choice to give a few dollars is made on the spot without logical consideration of the superior benefits of giving to a legitimate charity.

I live in Chicago and work at one of the Financial Exchanges. We get more than our share of panhandlers as you can imagine. The funny thing is, most of these guys have been begging for change FOR YEARS! I've been down there since the late '90's and see the same faces every day. Where would they be today if they had tried looking for work those many years ago.

The funniest part of it all? Seeing them beg for change while talking on their CELL PHONES!

Always look at the global big picture. The homeless in Amerika are our own domestic refugees. Report It

the herding sounds like a good idea to me. they interfere with businesses and traffic

Never ever give to panhandlers. If they can survive from begging they won't ever do anything to get out of that situation.
In my city most panhandlers wear better than I do. I saw one the other day with Nike snickers. And a lot of there are overweighted and some morbidly obese.
And the worst of all are those who sit on the corners drinking beer and smoking while the kids beg to the cars stopped at the traffic lights.
It's tough because the kids can't be blamed. But giving them money is going to keep them in the same situation forever.
It's not charity to give money to them. You hurt them a lot more than you help them.

I live in Denver, and I never give to panhandlers. Ever.
I work too hard for my money.
I've known people who have panhandled, and I have no desire to support them with my hard work.

The most common approach I get is when they ask me for "bus fare to get home". They always ask me this downtown, and I ask them "How did you get down here? You had bus fare to get here, but you didn't plan on having enough to get home??? Plan better next time."