On Panhandling & Chronic Homelessness In Greensboro
posted: September 24, 2006 | category: homelessness
tags: panhandling
Beth at Greensboring wrote a recent post about her encounter with a homeless panhandler on High Point Road. She wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, but she chose to buy the man breakfast. Great choice, and the one that I most often encourage people to do. 
If someone tells you they’re hungry, and you’re willing and able to give them something to eat, then by all means, do so.
I read Beth’s post yesterday afternoon, after having a similar encounter on Tate Street. My son and I usually eat at Manhattan Pizza (best turkey sub in town!) or New York Pizza (best white veggie pizza in town!) after church on Sundays, and we visit with our homeless friends who frequent the area. Yesterday, we ran into a couple of new guys, and I bought them lunch and gave them a list of phone numbers to call about some longer-term solutions to the issues they’re facing. They’re camping in the woods for now, and we’ll hopefully meet up with them on NightWatch this week.
Back to Beth… We did the same thing. She bought the guy the best, not the least. She resisted the urge to get something cheap and she bought him what she was having. Even though she had second thoughts. Me, too. When I went to buy lunch for the two new guys, they both asked for “any kind” of sandwich. I could have gone in and bought two of the least expensive sandwiches and they would have been grateful. And frankly, I was asking myself, “How much extra money do I have this week?” But then I thought, “If Jesus had just asked me for a sandwich, would I be standing here thinking about how much money I have in the bank?” And then I felt ashamed. Because Matthew 25 says I was feeding Jesus. So I bought combo meals for both of them, and cookies. (Full disclosure: Yes, I got a cookie for me and my son, too. *grin*) Beth wrote about her own similar conflicting thoughts. I think it’s important for people to realize that we all fight with our flesh when we have the opportunity to do good, but we have to ignore those “me first!” thoughts and just go ahead and do the right thing.
I really appreciated what Beth shared about her encounter and her choices, but I also wanted to respond further to some things she mentioned in her post and her comments, just to clarify:
Beth: “We seem to almost welcome them, offering licenses to beg… It is now a beggars paradise where we enable these individuals to do so.”
Me: I think that the point of the license was not to encourage panhandling, but to regulate it. And people get arrested all the time for violating it. That said, I think panhandling (with a sign, for money) is a really bad idea and I think that once you license something, you’re saying it’s OK. So if it were up to me (and it’s not), there would be no license. It would just be illegal, period. (Yes, I realize how unpopular that opinion is with many of my homeless friends.) Now, if someone wants to say, “I’m hungry, will you buy me something to eat?,” that’s fine with me and I can say “yes” or “no.” And if they want to ask me to bum a cigarette, they can endure my lecture on how much God loves their body. (Strongly worded, but often delivered with a hug at the end.)
Beth: “Sure they say they want to end homelessness in 10 years. But somehow, that sounds more like a PR moral “[bs]” then true commitment to change.”
Me: A lot of people feel that way until they know more. The actual goal is to end chronic homelessness, which is 10-15% of those who are homeless, and they are the folks who you see on the street. Read my post: “Understanding the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.” Ask me questions. Check the Task Force web site. If we do it right (key!), I think we can have a huge impact. Although, I’d reword it to say that we can end most chronic homelessness by 2016. People still get to choose, no matter how we plan.
Beth: “Even Cara Michelle [sic] says they’ve tried to help individuals get off the street, but alot of them “arn’t [sic] ready” (don’t want to) to give up the lifestyle.”
Me: To clarify, “not ready” is not about giving up a “lifestyle.” It means they’re not ready (yet) to address the underlying issues that are keeping them homeless. Many of the homeless panhandlers in the areas you’re referring to are chronically homeless folks whose primary issues include addiction and mental illness, not “lifestyle” choices. There are many reasons why an individual might not be ready to enter treatment, and two of the most frequent I encounter are fear of change and lack of hope. One of the more controversial approaches used in some Ten Year Plans is to go ahead and offer housing to chronically homeless folks, whether or not they choose to receive treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. It is simply more cost-effective for them to be housed, whether they are treated or not. As a Christian, I have huge problems with this. But that’s another post… another time.
Beth: “Are we enabling them to hurt themselves because we’re to worried about requiring them to seek assistance for food and money through government assistance?”
Me: There is no “money” available from the government for the folks you’re talking about, other than disability from Social Security or the VA for those who have a qualifying disabling condition. (Some mental illnesses qualify, some don’t. Addiction does not qualify as a disability for Social Security.) Those who get disability benefits often qualify for food stamps, too, but if you’re not disabled (and you have no children living with you), I believe that you can only get food stamps for a few months and then there are employment requirements.
Beth: “The argument against that is, some can’t help it… but Cara insists groups such as hers have offered. Isn’t there something to be said about charity for someone picking and choosing at the expense of those who give?”
Me: Don’t misunderstand what it is that we have to offer, at least right now. Emergency shelters remain full year-round, and even when beds become available, that’s only a temporary solution. (A couple of months, on average.) Our current mental health system fails to adequately serve chronically homeless people. We do not have a local source for comprehensive, clinical substance abuse treatment, so if folks are ready to rehab, we may send them out of town or out of state to do so, for up to two years. (And many are not ready to take this step.) And we have a serious shortage of permanent supportive housing, which is now recognized as the most effective option to serve the chronically homeless.
So we have very little get-off-the-street-today help for chronically homeless people. When and if a chronically homeless individual is ready and willing to move toward wholeness and stability, we point them toward multiple resources to begin addressing their issues. Getting off the street is not an immediate process, at least not yet. And make no mistake, many homeless folks in this community lack hope for their future, and that is a powerful disincentive to begin the process of seeking assistance. When you’re on the street and you look around and see the same folks on the block day after day and year after year, you figure you’re not going anywhere either. It’s hard to be ready to do something you don’t see anybody else doing. How do you believe you can escape when no one else seems to get out?
But some are getting out. And there is hope. I am encouraged by the examples of the folks I know personally who have made it from the street to stability. Some of those people are doing outreach through NightWatch, and sharing that hope and the story of how God makes a way, even when there’s no way. Some of those people are working in other homeless service programs. People can and do make it off the street. And I believe that more people will escape the street as we continue to provide more tools for their success. I’m excited about the possibilities that will come from the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. I am really hoping for more permanent supportive options!
There are personal choices that people make that lead to their circumstances. But there are also choices that we make, or don’t make, as a community that impact people’s circumstances, and impact their ability to avoid or escape their circumstances. Who is responsible for that homeless panhandler on High Point Road? He is. I am. You are. It’s we.
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7 Responses to “On Panhandling & Chronic Homelessness In Greensboro”
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Great post. I also feel much better giving food rather than money, but will give money also.
Thanks, Jim.
I have always either ignored or given money but have learned a new way.
thanks
You seem to insinuate that a majority of chronic homeless individuals are suffering from a mental illness, are you not?
Could you please contact me about this? I am doing a study on homelessness in Greensboro for my Public Administration class and need some more inforamtion (as well as interviews). I am really interested in the numbers that you spoke of and NightWatch.
meblogin: I’m glad the post helped.
beth: No, I’m not insinuating that. HUD defines a chronically homeless person as:
“‘an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years.’ [A disabling condition is defined as a diagnosable substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability, including the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions.]”
Of those disabilities, substance abuse disorders and mental illness, in that order, (or the two occurring together) seem to be the most common among the chronically homeless folks I know. I don’t know if a majority of chronically homeless people in Greensboro suffer from mental illness, but I’ll try to get that information. It would be interesting to know. Studies I’ve read show that mental illness occurs in 20-40% of the homeless population, and those numbers may be higher among chronically homeless individuals. Most homeless service providers expect the numbers to climb as more mentally ill folks are discharged from state care back into local communities (which are mostly ill-equipped to house and care for them.)
brittany: I don’t have contact info for you. You can email me at chosenfast@untangledweb.net.
[…] props to the cops for ticketing this panhandler. I am not a fan of panhandling, for many reasons. (Read this previous post for my thoughts on […]