I’ve actually skipped work just to help a homeless guy get his beard trimmed. Bought him pizza too. Kinda hard to get anywhere in life when you look like shit.
Be kind to the homeless, they just need a helping hand here and there.
What would you do?
Given how I don’t let anybody homeless or otherwise in my house if I don’t know them, I’ll probably give them food and water
Several years ago, my mom started making care for folks out on the street. Some water, a bag of chips, a piece of candy. Little things like that. I started doing the same thing. It’s good to help those down on their luck in small ways. Even to to look at them and say “no, I’m sorry” when they ask for money, rather than to just ignore them. You are acknowledging them as a person. If we wish to make a better society, actions speak louder than words.
I also prefer the term ‘de-housed’ to ‘homeless’. I feel the latter places blame on them rather than the former which places blame on the society which has failed them.
I remember a skit by the late George Carlin where he suggested that instead of calling them homeless, that we should call them houseless instead, so yeah I get what you mean there.
Plow the golf courses and cemeteries! Give these folks a place to live!
This is the first time I’m hearing plow cemeteries, and I’m not sure I’m on board with that. People usually spend time there to deal with grief and losing a little bit more of a dead loved one would be incredibly painful for a lot of folks
Fuck golf courses though
It’s a joke from George Carlin. I wouldn’t advocate for plowing old ones (although dead stuff makes fertile soil). Personally, I wouldn’t make new ones, but perhaps a middle ground is to make mausoleums wbere people can be burried vertically.
Ah, I see you’re a fan of the late George Carlin as well… 👍
I think homeless is more fitting. at least to me, it’s a more emotional/painful word, which is a good thing. being homeless sounds a lot shittier than being dehoused to me.
That’s an interesting point, provided it motivates people to do something about it, rather than assigning a moral failing to the individual. I.e. they deserve it for their sins. In my mind, dehoused elucidates the lack of a basic human need: shelter. There is a solution, especially in the face of the greed of rent seeking.
“absolutely fucking not, and never come here again”
Sorry, but I’ll help people when I want to, on my own terms. Before you pile on, I literally just housed somebody for over a month, in the shitty one bedroom flat I rent. As in, they stayed on the sofa and only left on Tuesday. I also provided 90% of their food and gave them money to cover an outgoing debt payment.
It was a fucking huge inconvenience, actually. A helping hand is fine, but some people will happily take your whole arm.
Your last sentence strikes a hard truth, but I totally get you. Yeah, I ain’t suggesting anyone outright adopt a homeless person and wipe their ass every day and all, just saying that sometimes, depending on the circumstances and the individual, that it’s only proper to help for a day or three, within your means anyways.
I would offer to buy them a meal and pay for a low-cost motel room. I’d even be willing to buy them some toiletries to get cleaned up. I would not invite them into my home under any conditions.
Nice try, you filthy Hobo!
I wouldn’t let him in, because my partner has very strong feelings about anyone in the house, but if he doesn’t mind waiting outside he’s getting a lot more than a sandwich and water. A full meal is a very rare thing on the street and some bread and Ham isn’t a meal. I always have left overs or prepped meals ready and he’s eating until he’s full. Water is the same, as much as he can stomach.
I’m no barber, but I can trim my own beard so I’m sure I can manage his. If the stars align, I have a real stylist down the street and I’d happy to ask if she has time for a clean and cut.
Most importantly, I’ve got contact info for shelters and food banks. When if I can’t do anything else I can help find someone who can.
Honestly, I didn’t let the fella in either. But I did bring my hair clippers out on the back porch, and made a point to trim both his beard and his head down short.
I’m not a barber either, but hell, there’s a huge difference between looking scraggly versus looking somewhat tidy. I did my best with the clippers, and the fella was very happy with it.
Then I went and bought us some pizza and a couple of beers. Why beer? Because I’m generous sometimes, plus beer is cheaper than water in my area.
My experience with homeless people on my porch has usually been them stealing from it or shitting on it. So I’d be rather shocked if they just asked for something normal.
I wouldn’t oblige the bath, but I could help them with some food and water.
There is a difference between a homeless person and a thief. It’s a bad stereotype to consider all homeless people as thieves.
In my experiences in life, thieves almost always have a home. I mean, where is a homeless person gonna store your television?
They’re not the same.
They steal our patio furniture, and then I see it in the camps down the road. We’ve had to start locking it up with chains. In this case they are both homeless and thieves.
Sadly, sometimes they can be thieves, but that doesn’t seem to be the usual case when I’ve met homeless people.
Then again, maybe it’s because my instincts tell me who to avoid from a quarter mile away. You know, like that dude behind the Burger King dumpster with a face full of tattoos… Yeah, probably best to avoid…
It’s true that not everyone fits stereotypes, but be realistic. The vast majority of homeless people are drug addicts, alcoholics, or both. Addicts with no legal source of income are going to steal.
I don’t hate homeless people at all, and I legitimately have sympathy for someone who fell on hard times and is trying to get their life together; I do hate addicts who are willing to take advantage of hard-working people. The venn diagram between homeless and addicts is very close to being a circle.
Yeah, it bothers me when young, naive people on the internet don’t get this. Homelessness is often a lot more than just not having enough money. Often (but not always), it involves deep psychological issues. One of the reasons why the homeless issue is difficult to solve is because you can’t just throw money at them or even just give them a house and expect for everything to be fixed. They need psychological help, and often help with addiction, in addition to the money. I feel for these people, but it is absolutely not the simple issue people like to make it out to be.
Personally, I don’t even answer the door for strangers unless I’m expecting someone.
Want a little plot twist? Everyone is addicted to something or another. Why is caffeine legal, but cocaine illegal? People piss money away at Starbucks while dissing the homeless.
There’s a slight but significant difference between being addicted to Starbucks and crack.
There’s also the fact that instead of buying a $20 cup of coffee, you can get a $2 or so cup of coffee at most any old random gas station, and still have money left to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed a couple homeless people instead.
I don’t want to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed homeless people. I mentioned this in another comment, but the group of people who are homeless and the group of people who are addicted to meth, heroin, whatever are largely the same group, maybe with a few outliers. Why the hell would I want to buy lunch for someone who’s going to go out and rob or harass someone for $20 so they can go buy a bag of their drug of choice?
People like myself (and others in this comment section) don’t hate the homeless. We hate drug addicts who shit all over society (sometimes literally) in order to get their next fix.
Here’s an experiment you can try: The next time you see a homeless person begging for money so they can buy some food, refuse to give them money and offer to buy them food instead. They’re probably going to call you a piece of shit and if you’re lucky, they might leave you alone after that, but probably not.
People need to have sympathy for the homeless, but not for addicts. We should have social programs to house the homeless, as long as they can pass a drug test. Food banks, work-placement programs, they should all exist and be taxpayer funded, as long as those using them can pass a drug test.
I’d wash his clothes, too.
I actually would have offered that as well, but honestly I was staying at my mother’s house at the time, so using the indoor facilities was kinda out of the question.
But the hair clippers were mine, so I just ran an extension cord out the back door to trim him up, and then we went and I bought us both some pizza.
I did what I could, always thinking like what if I was in their situation?
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I’d close the door on him then call the police. Y’all can virtue signal all you want but these homeless people can have mental illnesses and be dangerous.
The police can be mental and dangerous themselves, what’s ya point?
I’m not in danger. And sometimes cities like mine have special homeless units that aren’t cops.
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Yeah, this one is over the top.
My late father would employ homeless people to rebuild wrecked motor homes. And amazingly enough, this tactic tended to work fairly well.
They weren’t allowed inside our house, except certain hours of the day in the evening. They were even welcome to drink some beer with us and shoot the shit during the later evening hours, just as long as they kept up work on the wrecked motorhome, which is where they slept.
I think they lived there while repairing it for like 6 months, and they were generally honest and legit. Never once stole a thing, they were just glad to have a place to stay during that time.
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I never said I let him in the house, I trimmed him up on the back porch.
Dude was old and all his belongings were in a single backpack, pretty sure that even if I had let him inside, he wouldn’t have stolen anything.
Like seriously, where’s he even gonna put stuff? Homeless people don’t tend to have much space for extra stuff…
Good for you to help someone, genuinely. It’s a little weird you asked a question and then once people answer you try to debate them.
Some homeless people steal. Not saying as a group they all do, but I don’t know which category this stranger falls in. Once inside my house they know the layout and perhaps see things that would be of interest to come back later to steal. Of more concern is I don’t know the mental health of this individual, and I’m less concerned about theft than my family’s safety.
I usually buy a meal for a homeless drug addict who sometimes it’s asking for some coins in a near mall, I don’t like to give him money straight cos I know he will buy drugs with it, I prefer to buy him something to eat.
Where I am there is not so much homeless people there is just poor people who asks for coins so no beard issue but I definitely like to give them something to eat instead of money for drugs.
Agreed, if you already know the person has bad habits, then definitely don’t support those habits.
But hey, occasional help with the basics never hurts. Everyone needs food and water occasionally at bare minimum, plus many people forget they also need occasional help with hygiene.
It’s not like they want to be dirty, they just don’t tend to have regular access to facilities to bathe, shave, or wash their clothes…
But yeah, I ain’t about to just hand them money. If I’m gonna help, I’m gonna help. I can’t do much, but I do what I can when I feel I should.
This has happened on a few occasions, I’ve always fed and bathed the person, on a few occasions,I’ve let the person stay with me for a little while, and once I dated a guy for a little while.
This has ended with mostly positive results. And these people didn’t really come knock on my door (we usually met out-and-about).
I subscribe to a policy of cautious altruism, like a lot of folks already said. I need to keep myself and my family safe so probably not allow in the house, but I’d give food water, the hose, soap, shampoo, clean towel, and a change of clothes if I can. Maybe even some cash if I have it around to spare.
If I have a shed or garage I’d allow them to use it to change clothes privately and offer to wash their clothes if safe. They may have residue of drugs like meth on their clothes that I’m unable handle.
I’ve also got a decent amount of privilege to share.
Be kind, be safe
Also, for anyone reading through this thinking, “I shouldn’t give them money because drugs”
I use drugs to cope with chronic pain so I can get through a workday
I’m skilled labor and make a decent salary
The only things separating me from a homeless person were some “fortunate” family deaths providing enough inheritance to put me through college at a good time and some lucky networking
We should all be more humble and less judgemental of eachother’s choices
I’m not exactly sure how to interpret all this, except I think you have a decent trustworthy soul, and care about others.
Yeah, I try to every day
Some days are harder than others, I ain’t perfect, I’ve caused probably as much harm as good, but I try my best
I think you need a digital hug 🤗
“I shouldn’t give them money because drugs”
I have a roof over my head, eat thrice a day, and have a loving family. Yet there are days when I want to drown myself in alcohol or weed. Who am I to judge a homeless person if they choose to do drugs and forget their suffering for a little while?
I always give money, if anything, to the few of them in my neighborhood. Whether it’s food , clothes, drugs or something else - they know what they need better than I know it.
Be kind, be safe, and love thy fellow person. 👍
I’ve quite a few friends I’ve personally pulled out of homelessness, so I’ve seen how hard it is firsthand, I hope things are better for you
Things actually are better for me these days. Not great, but much better. I’m living in a decent affordable apartment now, rather than the old run down trailer park I came from.
Thank you for your kind words. 👍
I’ve had people occasionally help me along the way, and at my discretion, I’m glad to help others in return when possible. Pass it forward…
IMHO: Always help out the working-class people if you can; the homeless and’middle class’ are the working-class.
You don’t have to let them in your home or do too much, but I would offer them a box with food, plenty of water, and a basic care package.
We all need to make time to join in helping our local communities. 1 hour a year is much more helpful than 0 hours a year.
Mantra:
“We should focus our actions, time, and resources on Direct Action, Mutual Aid, and Community Outreach… No War but Class War!”
