Anger and sadness at this interaction with homeless person

[BlueCupOrangeCup]

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.

With you OP - I never give to the homeless now because I've been burnt. Gave a 'desperately hungry' homeless man money to get some food and I saw him 5 minutes later carrying a beer. Another time I offered a sandwich and they turned their nose up and swore at me as they just wanted money. I now only give pet food to the ones I see with animals.

Oh come on now!! Blaming me for 13 years of Tory rule because I don’t agree with you, is just ridiculous. I can assure you I have never voted Tory in my life and never will.

Yes, I am aware of the risk of sudden detox with certain substances. If you had read my previous post you would see I have already stated that I worked with homeless people with addictions for many years. So I am well aware of the dangers. The thing to do in this situation is seek medical help or engage with services who can keep you safe. I know that’s not easy but in the mean time begging in order to access more of substance is not the answer. After all it’s not just the withdrawal that can kill you, it’s the substance itself.

My conscious doesn't sit easy thinking I might have payed for a bag of heroine for someone that might overdose them.

This is accurate - I've worked with homeless and addicted people for 20 years and can confirm that emergency/hostel housing is generally available for people who want the support and can put the effort in.

I'm not placing blame - the people who aren't able to access this support are often extremely damaged individuals. But it is out there.

OP instead of feeling bad which doesn't help anyone why don't you make a small donation to St Mungo's?

Of course he wasn't telling the truth, it would make no sense for a homeless charity to put up silly barriers like that to helping people. Can you really imagine a charity saying - you can come here for 12 weeks completely for free, all food and accommodation paid for - but first you have to beg to get yourself £7.50 so you can get here/as an admin charge. I bet if you'd offered him a lift there to make sure he got his place that he'd have turned it down! If he appeared upset it was either to try to emotionally manipulate you into giving him money or because he didn't have enough for the drugs he desperately needed to stop the withdrawals.

You would always be 100% better off making a donation to a charity then giving to an individual.

Years back I used to volunteer at a homeless shelter. It was free at the point of access and residents claimed housing benefit for their stay.

I think he was leading you on. But if you feel bad make a donation to St Mungos via their website.

Yes this is the case. The reason I pulled a friend off the streets & took him home with me was because he was unable to stop drinking so could not access accommodation. Actually there also wasn’t any - but there would have been in a reasonably short time had he been able to engage. He was also too intoxicated to engage with the services that ran during the day.

It’s all very complex but I do feel that giving money to an addict is rarely helpful.

Unfortunately do gooders are a huge part of the problem. I once intervened as an old lady was just about to give a well known addict money and explained to her that he wasn't homeless. She was really rude to me and said 'So what! It doesn't hurt to be nice!' . After that little outburst I didn't bother trying to explain to her that paying for an addict's heroin isn't being 'nice', it's fuelling street crime and killing people. It's almost like some people want to be conned sometimes. The local police told me that even when they try to move obvious addicts on to prevent begging members of the public start interfering and telling them to leave them alone. Like I said unfortunately do gooders are a large part of the problem.

Neighbour's son who was a heroin addict suddenly appeared on my FB timeline in a post that had gone viral claiming very similar story to the guy OP tried to help. A well meaning young adult had got talking to him in our nearest big city and he had sold her a cock and bull story about needing £25 to be allowed to stay in a shelter. Full of outrage at the system she set up a go fund me for him. He wasn't homeless but tucked up in bed two doors down from my house. The idiot had allowed her to take a photo which she then plastered all over FB, so it was stopped pretty quickly. The guy needed help but was an addict and a liar. The good news is he finally got the help he and his family desperately needed (after a spell in prison for domestic violence unfortunately) and he has been clean for over 5 years and is working.

How do you know he's on the streets?

@SurelySmartie
Local authorities have a duty to find accommodation for homeless people including those presenting in an emergency.

No they don't.
They have a duty to assist people in finding accommodation. They don't actually have to conjure any up. They might just point you in the direction of private rentals and access to deposit schemes.

Those deemed to be in priority need (eg. with dependent children, disabled) are the only ones who are actually provided with any kind of emergency accommodation.

In many areas there is more provision but it is not a statutory duty.