When I was younger, I used to give money to "bumbs" all the time. Sometimes on a daily basis...my heart bled. I even left blankets for a local vagrant named Jim. I observed him day after day walking the same route, and retiring to his home under the bridge every night. It was cold, so I left him some blankets in a bag with a note attached, "Hey Jim, stay warm", it said. I gave $10 to another regular panhandler on the local strip, one day. He didn't ask for it, but every day he went through the garbage outside of where I worked and it just killed me to see someone reduced to that. I went out and said, "Here's ten bucks, man. This isn't a gift, this is payment for you to stop going through this garbage, and so you can get a good meal." He looked at me, shrugged, and walked away. Later that night on my way home I passed him sitting on the sidewalk with a nice tall brown bag. My point: statistically, the majority of homeless people are insane or addicts. It's very, very sad. However, if you are ever curious how hard it is to get help, go to your local department of social services and tell them you don't have a home, any money, or anywhere to go. They will most likely give you "emergency" money, a place to stay, and a card that will enable you to get groceries. The argument that homeless people can't get jobs doesn't really fly with me. If you want to, you can get cleaned up enough for an interview. I would say it's safe to assume that living that lifestyle would make you thrifty enough to land a job at McDonalds. Let's be honest, many of the people who are asking you for money are lying to you in regards to why they need it, I'd say they could lie on an application enough to write an address of a relative and lie enough to not volunteer they're homeless. To those of you who truly help those in need you are great people. I wish we lived in a world where no one had to worry where they were going to get their next meal.
