Anger and sadness at this interaction with homeless person

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Tonight, a polite homeless man named Kevin told me he secured a spot in a 12-week program at St Mungo's after a year of homelessness. He needed £7.50 urgently to go there tonight and had been trying all day. Skeptical, I regretfully declined, later realizing he might have been genuine.

I'm replaying the whole conversation in my head and now I think I recall him almost bursting into tears as he asked if there was any way at all I could help him.

This one might have been genuine and I'm so disgusted with myself.

I could have helped. I had a £5 note in my purse....and I am fortunate enough that I wouldn't miss it or notice it gone.

And at the same time I'm also so angry at scammers of this thing. If someone stood in front of you asking begging for a small amount of money to help them and you knew it was genuine OF COURSE all of us would help! But genuine people don't get the help they need because scammers make people have attitudes like mine tonight.

There is no way to phone st Mungo's now to 'pre pay' for Kevin should he turn up tonight....meanwhile I'm going home to sleep in my warm bed and work my lovely job tomorrow.

Poor Kevin, I'm sorry I didn't help you.

I was in a similar situation. A homeless man asked me for money. It was freezing and I felt sorry for him. I gave him £5 and he handed it back saying “ can’t you make it a tenner” I walked away !!!

I'm so conflicted.
Round here the homeless people can get really nasty or produce card readers if you say you have no cash.
If you give them money, the blokes can start getting pestering and not leave you alone.
I'm scared of them, I won't lie, and avoid them.
It is wrong of me though not to donate to a homeless charity and I should.

Had similar myself, handed over £5 to a homeless man begging me to help him.

As soon as I parted with it he shot off and I witnessed him handing it over for drugs, never did that again!

i Don’t think St Mungos charge …..

Homeless people still claim benefits. They still get universal credit, they just don't the housing element as they don't have a tenancy. Over 25 it's about £370 month. Many have to manage on that when paying gas / electric / water / food. Rough sleepers will still get UC top.
If its not a scam by him, he's spent all of his own income anyway.
I'm going scam, funny he saw you on the VERY DAY, he has to get to St Mungo's and had no money.

And what if the £7.50 you give them buys the drug that kills them? @OhBumBags

Why did he need the £7.50 - I thought St Mungo's courses were free or did he need the money to get there?

St Mungo's doesn't charge, so likely to have been a scam.

Not in response to the poster of this comment, but just a general asside…

Shelter don’t provide Shelter (only because this seems to be a common misnomer). If it’s help for homelessness/addiction, etc. then this isn’t the right charity. St. Mingo’s, Salvation Army and many others are out there for the topic here who do though 🙂.

I really hate the narrative that many of them have homes and are scammers. Absolutely some of them are, but you have to give the benefit of the doubt. I feel so desperately sorry for them. Quite often they have had a terrible life, abuse, neglect, which leads to addiction trying to use it as pain relief. It’s desperately sad. I think if you can afford to not miss it, give it. What they do with it is sort of irrelevant. Sometimes getting a fix feels like life or death to an addict. If I can spare a few quid I’ll give it.

The most self serving comment I’ve read today.

And often it is death. Well done.

Some of these people seem to see a fix as a nice little treat, as if it was a cupcake or something.

The St Mungos hostel is 15 minutes walk from St Pancras on Grays Inn Road. Definitely a scam in this case OP.

I regularly catch an overland train within London and every single day a man, a different one every day, will come to the top of the carriage and tell a story and get a few pounds from someone. They repeat this throughout the train then get off a few stops later and head back on the next train going the opposite direction. The stories are always sad and probably true in part but the money is definitely not going to be going to fund food/bedding.

The chap on this evening’s train had hurt his leg and wanted money to get the hospital!!

What if I bought them a sandwich and they choked to death on it? 🤷‍♂️

Addicts need their fix while they're addicted and it's not up to us to judge them, especially considering the lack of funding for addiction and MH support.

This was almost definitely a yarn from him. I wouldn't worry. If it's really bothering you make a donation to St Mungos 🙂

Some substances are so physically addictive that you risk death by not getting a hit until you are weaned off.
So either option is a risk. It wouldn't be your £7.50 that kills them it would be there addiction.

Agree, I live in a rough area, with lots of street drinking and drug dealing, plus there are a large number of supported housing and it is horrible. I would move in a heartbeat but simply cannot afford to. The majority of people who live where I am are utterly sick of it, sick of all the begging, the dealing and the fact that the local homeless charity is allowed by the council to have so many properties here. This is due to the houses being cheap because it is a bad area, so the charity can buy up more homes, it gets worse, property prices fall, the charity buys more and on and on it goes. I have been approached by beggars when I have literally been leaving my home. The street drinking is horrible, not so bad now as it is cold, but in the summer there are always groups of mainly males gathered in the local park which or course no children can use. I truly hate it where I live, my house is nice inside but I can guarantee that almost every time I go out I will witness some anti-social behaviour.

😃

St Mungos run a lot of hostels, not just one. But I agree this man wasn’t telling you the truth. It’s not uncommon for beggars to use a tactic similar to this.

Similar story , a man approached me , told me he didn’t have any money , hated to ask but he was desperate , I gave him £5 and before I put my purse away he shot into the betting shop nearby😢since then I don’t trust so many people begging , looking sad .I feel guilty but only give to Big Issue sellers now but still feel terribly guilty saying no!

Very accurate, many drug and alchohol users whose use is problematic are self medicating due to trauma and life problems. The "dealer/pusher" at the school gate is a myth.

So many judgey comments here, if I was sleeping outside in these temperatures I’d probably want to get out of my head too.

It's a scam. Homeless charities don't make the homeless pay.

It sounds like your values and behavior didn’t align and that’s why you feel uncomfortable. Maybe think about what you can do to help more sustainably eg give to a charity that helps people genuinely in need, actively look for people to give money to, volunteer or consider this issue when you vote etc…