To think £1 doesn't get you much these days

[soyvanillalatte]

I was in town, about to start my shopping, and walked past a young homeless man who was sitting on the pavement surrounded by his belongings. He looked up to smile and I grabbed a pound out of my pocket and gave it to him saying "Morning, maybe you can get yourself a cup of coffee. Sorry it's not much".
The pound was all of the loose change I had in the pocket but as I walked away, I started to feel bad and wondered if I had just given him a "useless" amount of money. I feel like I have insulted him, I felt so guilty.
Can £1 get much in the way of something to eat or drink of any value these days?
AIBU to think he may not have been able to even get a cuppa?

[MammyV]

TerrificHons what an awful thing to say

mammyv the image of your 9 yo running around like Lord Bountiful, deeming who is genuinely "homeless" or not, is sickening. There are plenty of homeless addicts/alcoholics on the streets, it's not all a ploy to get "a coin" off you

I bet my little boy in all his 9 years has shown more empathy than you ever will, which is clear by your tone. The reason he tries not to approach drug addicts etc is he is FRIGHTENED of them, not that he is 'picking' others as such, I know they are all probably homeless but if a person is able to engage in chat and seem compusmentus then of course he will want to help! My son is no Lord bountiful but he is trying his best and last week all his pocket money went on food bank stuff so go crawl under your rock again and come out when you are feeling a tad more pleasant,,,,he is 9!!

[EveOnline2016]

Giving to a person who is homeless I view as the same as gifting someone birthday money.

Once the money is passed over then it's up to that person to choose how they spend it.

[doctoratsea]

Stepaway... you said and I quote

"All the evidence suggests that your £1 is not going towards a bed for the night. The vast majority of street beggars are not looking for money to fund housing; they're funding drug habits. So your money is generally going to a dealer (you may be fine with that, but most people aren't)."

The vast majority definition is "the greater number"

You then have telepathic powers to say that you know what most people think, and that you know were most of the money goes?

"Evidence suggests" would this be the same evidence as written by the charity or on behalf of the charity?

Interestingly I do not see anyone on this thread suggesting not to give to charity.
I not only give on the street, but support charities too. I would however not be brazen enough to suggest most people do both do neither, don't care, as I have no idea what other people do.

As Tuppence said "What a heartless and judgmental attitude you have."

[Sparklesilverglitter]

People become homeless for many reasons and often they only turn to drink/drugs when they are sleeping on the streets to numb the pain. Who is to say if I lost my home, my DH everything I wouldn't turn to the same, it could happen to anyone

[Sparklesilverglitter]

Where to you all live that can get milk, bread and fruit for £1?

OP I wouldn't worry most places have £1 shops or corner shops you can get 2 pints of milk ( here the corner shop is 89p 2 pints) and he probably had another £1-£2 from somebody else's.

I do sometimes give £1-£2 if I walk past, but I normally buy them a coffee or a kf company meal for example

Yes to to charity's is all well and good but that person you've walked past today isn't going to get instant help

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

I didn't say all homeless people were drug addicted. But research tells us that an extremely high proportion of street beggars are drug and/or alcohol addicted.

It might not be what people want to hear but handing money over to beggars is not the best way of helping homeless people. And sometimes it's actively unhelpful.

Many homeless people are not begging on the streets, and those begging on the streets are not necessarily representative of the whole homeless population (or the precariously housed).

This might not be what people want to hear but it doesn't make it untrue or nasty stereotyping. If people genuinely want to help homeless people they would do what is most effective not what makes them feel most benevolent and good about themselves.

[doctoratsea]

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus please don't judge every homeless person as being a druggy.

Stereotyping works both ways. Are you perhaps one of those fat cat directors creaming of ££££ in salary by working for a charity?

Charities can be good and many are not so good, but the compasion of helping someone there and then could make a difference to that person for just that moment or that night.

As I said before, anything you give is unconditional. Drink, drugs, food, shelter, it is up to them how they choose to spend it.

Clearly you can only give if you can control what they do with it!

[ladymarymoo]

If I had a pound and I was really hungry I would head to a supermarket (Tesco metro, sainsburys local etc) buy a banana, loose bread roll, cheapest own brand cola/sugary drink. Not ideal but doable.

[ATrumpIsAFartCalledDonald]

TerrificHons I agree with you entirely. How distasteful.

[Lilmisskittykat]

I think it's nice to bring up and encouraging caring children... They will unfortunate and most likely be inheriting these issues when they grow up. There is nothing wrong with compassion...

As for suggesting one child is a little Lord is a bit mean.. Children don't come from that place emotionally, he's just a little boy wanting to help and being grateful for what he has...

[SemiNormal]

he is savvy at 9 send already distinguishes alcoholics/addicts etc he tends to give the money to ones he genuinely thinks are homeless - so if someone is on drugs/drink they can't be 'genuinely' homeless now? perhaps they turned to drink/drugs AFTER being made homeless to be able to cope with the hopelessness of their situation. Perhaps some of them are vets who have witnessed sickening horrors of war and unable to cope with it, seeing as there is a massive lack of mental health care, turned to drink/drugs to cope with severe PTSD and lost their homes and families.

[TuppencePenny]

StepAway

What a heartless and judgmental attitude you have. The way I see it is showing compassion and kindness and not just walking on by saying "my direct debit has gone out this month to Shelter, hopefully a representative of an organisation will be along to re home and feed you soon!" That's no immediate help to anyone's physical or mental health and just not how things work for homeless people in reality.

[OwlinaTree]

eve yes, I agree.

[Savagebeauty]

I always ask if they want something to eat or drink.

[TerrificHons]

mammyv the image of your 9 yo running around like Lord Bountiful, deeming who is genuinely "homeless" or not, is sickening. There are plenty of homeless addicts/alcoholics on the streets, it's not all a ploy to get "a coin" off you.

[MammyV]

My son (age9) gets really really upset by homelessness. We live in glasgow and there seems to be a marked increase in homeless recently, we were in town yesterday and I had to brace myself for his upset. Luckily I had prepared and had lots of coins for my son to 'help' these people, he is savvy at 9 send already distinguishes alcoholics/addicts etc he tends to give the money to ones he genuinely thinks are homeless, we only give £1 to each and o think that is better than nothing at all, hopefully as others say it is enough to get a sausage roll, tea in greggs or similar, we can't individually change the situation but maybe showing compassion makes their lives a tiny bit better x

[Lilmisskittykat]

Do you not have pound shops where you live? We have lots ... Can get all sorts .. Socks gloves, food drinks etc

[EveOnline2016]

When I give to the homeless I don't care if the money is going to drugs or drink.

Tbh if I was on the streets with no money no family or friends then I would take drugs and drink myself to death, because let's face it what a miserable lonely life to have.

[MiddleClassProblem]

I now realise I didn't read the op and just the title.

He could easily get something from Greggs or a burger from McDonald's but hopefully he has a few more donations anyway

[MiddleClassProblem]

Sometimes you can get a Viennetta for £1. Winner.

[ATrumpIsAFartCalledDonald]

Where are all you people that a pound can get milk, fruit and bread?

It's good you gave him something and hopefully if a few more people give some change he could afford something to eat but I don't think a single pound goes a long way.

[soyvanillalatte]

By the way, he wasn't begging. Just sitting there with his stuff.

[Bastardshittits]

I usually give them a few quid. The night hostel in my local city charges a nominal amount and I don't know how else they are supposed to fund a bed.

[OwlinaTree]

I can see the benefit of giving directly to the person, but the only way to really help change long term is to support larger organisations who can do more .