There have been literally thousands upon thousands of times I’ve pulled up to a stop light in major city, including Houston, Austin, Washington D.C. and beyond, during which a supposedly homeless person has been standing sign-in-hand staring down commuters in hopes that one or two of them will feel sorry enough for the fella (or gal) to fork over some change. I’m not entirely senseless to these folks, as I do feel some sympathy but I can’t say that experience has lead me to believe helping these people is the right thing to do. Example…

A year or so ago I was on an outside patio in downtown Houston one night with a couple friends. A “homeless” man strolls on up and asks for a smoke and some change. I ignore him and sip my Shiner, but someone in our party decides to provide him a cigarette. I told him that was a mistake and to watch what happens next. Sure enough, the smoking homeless dude gets word out that there are smokes to be had at our outside patio around the block, and quite literally there were haggard street walkers coming by with the same request for tobacco and money every minute, on the minute, for the next 10.

Finally, my buddy realized the smokes won’t help their situations much, so he offers one of these guys some food. The guy accepts and they head off to buy something at a local cafe. I shook my head and knew this couldn’t go well. Again, as sure as I knew would happen, my friend comes back angry and in a huff. The homeless guy apparently threw the food across the street and yelled at my buddy for not giving him change and smoke like he asked.

What I’ve just mentioned is only part of the problem with donating on-the-fly to the homeless. Here’s a list of why helping street walkers, although it’s tempting, is just not a good idea.

• 1 - Can’t tell for sure if the person’s TRULY homeless.
• 2 - Likely mental instability on their part.
• 3 - Your safety is put at risk.
• 4 - You have no idea what you’re funding with your dollar(s), it could very well be drugs, alcohol, etc.
• 5 - You are encouraging panhandling and perpetuating the homeless’s situation.

If you’d really like to help out the less fortunate and/or those who have made bad life decisions in the past, then get involved with a soup kitchen or halfway house. Trust me, efforts in those areas will go much farther than a quarter to the guy at Westheimer and 610 on your way home.

Thoughts?