https://www.google.com/amp/amp.ketv.com/article/omaha-city-officials-working-on-panhandling-ordinance/7662442

I know dozens of guys who previously had well-paid full time jobs, who quit those jobs and abandoned their nice suburban homes because it was easy to pan-handle in the street and live under a highway bridge.

Oh wait, no I don't because that's not what causes homelessness.

To be fair I might actually agree. There are professional panhandlers at this point doing it for social experiments, its getting too hard to tell what is really a person starving and in need

I still give people some change. Especially if they seem down on their luck

Buddy, can you spare 10 points ? I've been in Civil Disorder in 2 games this month already and I'll lose my house if my RR falls below 50%. Times are tough man.

Well that was meant to do the "D" thing.

10 d
10 pts
10pts

Has that functionality been switched off or am I just crap?

I think we need a new feature on webDip that allows us to donate points to others who are down on their luck. Dev team, make it so!

Please sir may I have some more?

I need some points to feed my multi accounts.

One thing I know....
I WANT MORE!!

It turns out that the easiest way to end poverty and homelessness is to simply give people money.

It has been shown to be highly effective on a number of occassions in experimets.

A regulat stable income has been shown to increase innovation in rural farming communities, and increase productivity (because something like crop insurance, means you don't have to worry about crop failures, you can then take a risk and invest in more productive crops... But no company can be bothered insuring millions of rural farmers in the developing world, so it has only happened on a tiny scale, or with experiments to test the impact of giving people cash - which acts as a safety net for some).

Very effective. If you want 'giving charity to the needy' to stop being a thing...

Yep. But it is evidence based, require a minimum of compassion, and requires social coordination so it'll never happen in the US

Well, it will certainly disincentivize those that make a career out of panhandling. However, for those who are actually in need this proposal will just exacerbate the problem of homelessness.

Keep in mind that the homeless problem got vastly worse in the eighties when Reagan led the effort to close a lot of mental health facilities to "return then to the community". Well, this is what it looks like when you do that. "Compassionate" conservativism at work

The other day I go to get off on a popular exit and these people are always there. Its literally a panhandler outpost
Im surorised there arent thriwdowns where people duke ot out over who gets to play the impoverished victim of the day....

Anyways to my shock it was a young woman. Well dressed. She looked fully capable. She held a cardboard sign that reads.

"Single mom, down on my luck. Please help".

I couldnt help but wonder.... wheres the kid then?

Too often I see signs that are half assed some so bad they arent even trying anymore. My favorite was a guy in chicago who lurks around the stadium just yelling "help". "Need some help".

in my area, it's a business. Strictly one guy per direction at each major intersection. usually the same guys each day. sometimes there is a replacement but never a conflict. Each must pay a certain amount of money to the muscle in order to preserve an exclusive "right" to panhandle. Anything above that amount they get to keep. Lots of these guys achieve their nut in under 4 hours/day.

I think the best way to do it is to simply provide them homes. I think it was in Utah that Jon Huntsman (would've been an awesome President) did a program that provided housing so long as the people living there maintained it in good order. Many are forced to panhandle because they can't get jobs, and jobs are vastly harder to get if you don't have a stable "base" where you can fill out applications, search, and keep your things safely at night and during the day

I see a lot of people opining about what is involved, but I wonder, have any of you ever been homeless taht you actually have any basis for what you're saying or are we just seeing a bunch of presumption and bias pulled out of your respective asses?

I have not been homeless.

I was not aware that having an opinion on homelessness was only valid if you yourself had been homeless.

I based my post from my local public radio affiliate and it really did seem to bear out IRL.

not to say that it explains ALL panhandlers; I definitely see people who look like they are mentally ill more than anything else.

I had a guy ask me for a sandwich yesterday. See thats a legit homeless person request. The guy is freakin hungry

Opinions are one thing, but facts are another. For example, there is no way to know what conflict happens to determine who stands where. Could be brutal but you don't see it. Do these people actually take in more than a few bucks a day? Seems unlikely. I don't know. What it is actually like isn't something one often gets credible info about

Speaking of mentally ill people...

I live near what used to be the largest psychiatric hospital in the world: Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. Deinstitutionalization that started in the 60's here has had a major impact on the surrounding areas. I still see many mentally ill homeless people that wander around who were patients in that hospital DECADES ago (even though we have a few homeless shelters). It really is a sad sight to see.

I don't know how many homeless people here are actual career panhandlers but, I do fear for those that are actually in need if we stopped helping them.

@Ogion, an interloper on a valuable street corner is one phone call away from being "corrected" away. Is this really any different than controlling turf for drug dealers? As for how much the panhandlers actually net, I don't know for sure ofc, but if it wasn't enough, they wouldn't do it, right? That being said, the big winners are probably the guys that control the intersections.

People are such sheep. They see a homeless guy and go into a full-blown moral crisis. "Should I give something? Is the right thing to do?!" Umm, might be... or not. It's up to you. "Up to me?! Noooooo!!! We need instructions! We need a law!"