You've probably seen someone standing on a corner at one of Alexandria's busiest intersections, probably holding a sign detailing the desperate circ*mstances they're in and asking for help.
Maybe, motivated by a charitable instinct, you handed them a couple of dollars or some change through your car window.
You think you're doing good, but you may actually be contributing to deeper problems, says the head of the Central Louisiana Homeless Coalition.
"Please, please, please — do not give to panhandlers," said CLHC Executive Director Joseph Buzzetta. "Our community does want to help out individuals who are homeless. I understand the public's desire to help. Homelessness speaks to something in our souls. But giving money to these individuals is not the way to deal with homelessness."
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Why is giving money to someone panhandling bad?
Regardless of sign, theymay not be homeless
"Honestly, a lot of these people flying signs are not homeless," Buzzetta said.
Tiffany Crooks, housing program director with Volunteers of America, said she's known some individuals who have made as much as $500 in one day of panhandling.
"We always tell people, don't ever give money," Crooks said."Because you're reinforcing the panhandling behavior. If you feel like you need to give something, give tangible items — a granola bar, a bottle of water, I've even seen people give gift cards to McDonald's. If they're not willing to take that from you, nine times out of 10 they don't really need help. They're just out there trying to make a quick buck."
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Your money may be putting them at risk
Many people on the streets are there, at least in part, because of serious substance abuse issues. And one of the worst things you can do to someone who has a drug problem is make it easier for them to get drugs.
"I have seen people give money to people who are active substance abusers," Buzzetta said."Not just using baseline street drugs, they're using hard, hard drugs. Especially with all the fentanyl out there, all the opioids out there. They're trying to survive sothey do self-medicate, they do seek out these substances that make life easier for them, and it is just so, so dangerous."
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Buzzettasaid "panhandling is one of the most dangerous activities a homeless person can engage in," and not just because the money might go to feeding their drug habit.
Information passes a lot more effectively among the homeless community than people think, he said. When someone is known to have made a decent amount of money panhandling, that could make them a target for attackers looking to rob them.
Homeless people are particularly vulnerable to such attacks because they spend nights in out-of-the-way areas with no walls or doors to protect them, and are less likely to report crimes against them to law enforcement.
Panhandling could keep them from seeking needed treatment
"The challenge we're seeing is some of our clients who we engage with on a regular basis will stop coming to us for our services and instead go panhandle, because it is good money," Buzzetta said. "A lot of homeless people are in survival mode. For them, it's a calculation. Do I come and meet with case manager get signed up for disability, try to get signed up on these waiting lists,or do I go make a cool$60 or $70 or $80? Whenever that's the calculus that the community is encouraging, I understand why our clients are going for that."
The danger with that is many homeless people have serious mental health, physical health or substance abuse issues, sometimes all three.
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If they can make it panhandling, it keeps them on the streets, and keeps them from seeking help.
"The longer these individuals stay on the streets, the worse their mental health conditions get, the worse their physical health conditions get, the worse their substance abuse issues get," Buzzetta said.
Eventually, the danger is they don't receive treatment for so long that their problems, which may have been addressable, become too severe.
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It may keep them out of stable housing
In addition to using it for drugs or other destructive behavior, Crooks said, she's seen homeless people using money they got panhandling to buy themselves a night in a hotel room.
While that buys them shelter for a night," the next day they're right back in the same situation," she said.
"Until these issues are addressed, these people are not going to make it into housing stability," Buzzetta said. "And that's what we're here for. We want these people stably housed and thriving in this community. When that happens, our entire city benefits."
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Many homeless people have experienced significant trauma, Buzzetta said. Dealing with that trauma for an extended period fosters a mindset that they can only value what gets them through another day.
"Panhandling encourages that mindset, encourages that behavior and stops them from coming to us so we can work on moving them from that present-day orientation to more of a future-based orientation so they can move forward in their mental and physical health goals," he said.
The average cost per day, per client is about $30 for CLHC, Buzzetta said. For that, the agency has about an 80 percent retention rate.
That means eight out of 10 times, once a client sees what a better life looks like, they're willing to accept the challenge of staying off the streets.
But to get that glimpse of a better life, they have to engage in services that move them on the path towardstable housing. And as long as they're making money panhandling, they're less likely to do that.
"The bitter irony is every dollar you give individualson the street could go to a housing agency and we could use that to develop more housing and get these people off the streets," Buzzetta said.
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