Do you give to people begging in town ?

I very rarely go to Liverpool city centre it did have someone “homeless” on every corner in one area. By the cathedral it was very select years ago I worked there in a furriers when I was seventeen. Now outside nearly every doorway there is a resident I don’t know what their story is and I do feel sorry for them. I have bought food and drink for some in the past but I haven’t been into town for over eighteen months now. I don’t plan on going there as there are so many other places to go. Trafford centre Cheshire oaks I go there sometimes with my DS and family. Boundary Mill is five mins from my daughters.

I never give money in London because it would mainly go towards drugs and alcohol. I also have been abused verbally when I have offered to buy a sandwich.

Used to.but, not any longer.

BTW; if anyone is concerned for a person who appears to be rough sleeping most local authorities have a dedicated officer to deal with rough sleepers. Often you can send an e-mail giving details of the location, if you have a name so much the better. I have done this where I live. You won't know the outcome, obviously, but they will tell you that they have made contact.

Only if they do something to earn it. There is a man who sits and plays the lute beautifully in our local town centre. I always give him money because his lute playing gives me such pleasure.

I am very ambivalent now about Big Issue sellers. Members of the same family have been selling the Big Issue in two local towns for at least the last 25 years. First the father, when he had a heart attack the son took over and for the last 10 years it has been his wife.

Some years ago I read of a court case where a Big Issue seller, took the DSS to court because they refused her full benefits because her only employment was selling the Big Issue a few hours a week and she won the case. I suspect this is what is happening in this case. I think the family live in the city 15 miles away.

I am not sure of the nationality of this family, it doesn't really matter, I would unhappy if any family, even one with 25 generations in the area and a direct bloodline connection to William the Conqueror, seemed to have a 25 year monopoly of what is meant to be an aid to help people get back on their feet and then move on

Maybe the EE will stop coming now. I think immigration changes mean people have to show they can support themselves when they arrive. Same in Spain now with the TIE cards. One has to prove a certain income level to reside there. Obviously if people on the streets arrived here illegally these rules don’t apply. If a person needs hot soup and sleeps on the streets, what hopes for their futures? They can’t afford to pay to travel back home if they need handouts of socks and toothpaste so are they stuck here permanently in no-man’s land?

We seem to have a different sort of homeless here??

They spend their time wrapped in duvets in doorways as far as I can make out. I’m sure drugs and alcohol come into it somewhere but it isn’t obvious.

Their duvets always seem clean. I’m sure there is someone doing their bedding for them as I passed one chap who has a pristine white one.

Another time when out meeting friends for the evening, I passed a building society doorway where the staff were coming out and stepping around a homeless person, wishing him a good night and see him in the morning etc . They all knew his name.

Hot soup!

Two friends of mine work in a rota to supply hit soup to street sleepers at night. They said that it was striking how their 'customers' had changed. The majority are apparently of Eastern European origin. People who'd thought life would be so much better here but discovered that it wasn't. That may just be something about town though. It might not be common elsewhere.

Surely it must be drugs then or mental health issues that have these needy people sat on a blanket in our city streets with a dog on a string? For some it does seem to be a lifestyle choice it seems. I don’t recall any of this in the 1960’s growing up. Yes, the odd ‘tramp’ with matted hair who had an alcohol problem. But this, really? When did this all become a thing? What a society we have become. The police don’t move them on, so the tent city just grows. I read there’s a huge problem on the outskirts of fashionable Paris. Maybe it’s all big cities nowadays. It must be intimidating for passers by.

Wish I was street savvy about this. Feel so bad when I walk past street beggars and try to avert my eyes. I have no skill at discerning the 'genuine' ones but I do feel a little wretched as life has been somewhat kinder to me.

I rarely carry cash these days. Sometimes, even if I've wanted to donate to someone collecting for a legit charity, I just don't have the cash on me.

Jaffacake2 I used to take in homeless people and help them get back on their feet, but now I run a homelessness charity so I need to maintain professional boundaries.

I never give money to homeless people locally because my charity provides anything they may need; boots, clothing, camping equipment, hot meals - whatever will keep them warm and safe and well. We also provide additional long-term support to assist them to access whatever further help is needed.

I would never say don’t give money to people on the street, but wisdom is needed. If someone is misusing drugs I suspect you really won’t want to discover it was your money that funded an overdose. I was recently contacted by someone who was upset at finding that their ‘good deed’ of giving cash had resulted in the near death of a homeless person.

Outside of my own town if I come across a homeless person I always stop and offer to buy them a meal or a hot drink. I used to carry several pairs of new socks with me and small tubes of toothpaste, but I haven’t replenished my stocks during COVID. (New socks are a really welcome gift for people who are genuinely homeless - I once had a lovely lodger who bought a case of them to hand out, I think it was 144 pairs!)

I recently did hand 20 to someone locally because I just felt it was helpful to them. We don't usually have anyone begging where I am.

If I go closer to the city centre I see them but I don't give for the following reasons:
- Some of them are professional beggars. They are not homeless or destitute. They make a nice living this way.
- Stories of people becoming aggressive with people who give, but not in the way they want. I don't want to risk someone getting aggressive with me for any reason.

I find it hard not to give so give to relevant charities instead. I feel it's a safer way to help.

No I don't give money to beggars. I have bought them a hot drink on a cold day but the homeless charities really don't want people to give them money - too much of it goes to drug dealers.

I think it’s drugs. Spice. In Manchester City anyway. And mental health issues. Scary to think of the numbers of individuals involved. You can’t imagine what Piccadilly Gardens looks like. Zombie Town and scary.

Are other cities like this? Glasgow? London? Leeds?

I haven’t been into the city for over a year, but I used to give money to beggars. There but for the Grace of God and all that.

There is a young man that begs by our Lidl store.
He is always polite, I give him my trolley to return so he can keep the coin.

When I was a child there was a lot of poverty where I lived. We were always hungry and wore second hand clothes. But there were no beggars on the streets just a few old tramps who were given food by locals, pub landlords and police.
So is it drugs that have caused this problem ?

I will sometimes give to a big issue seller. There was a guy who used to sit on the pavement with his dog and I regularly used to give him a pound that is until I went in Wetherspoons one day and saw him playing the fruit machine, never again!!!

Where’s Andy Burnham then?

A quid is always welcome. Mine wasn't!

While I was a mature student in Manchester I lived on a tough council estate (now demolished) and it gave me an eye into another world that I had never encountered before. People on benefit who went into the city to beg outside the opera house and similar places. They would come into the local shops with pockets full of one pound coins and tales of how they had got if off the "posh frocks" in the city center. Some of these people had come from far better backgrounds than myself and had chosen to opt out and be kept by the state,

My nephew took in a homeless guy and helped him get a residential hostel place. It was not pleasant and he barely stuck it out for a few months but from there he was able to bid for a small flat where he now lives. He spends a lot of time still at my nephews and is not good at food and bills budgeting. However with a bit of support he is managing to look after himself and keep off the streets. He is ADHD and bipolar so will probably always need some measure of support.

So Ive seen different sides of street people. Some of them in Manchester can get quite aggressive.

but for the...

I do. There for the grace of god...

I will also give sandwiches or a drink if I have time, but if not, a quid is always welcome.