It’s such a popular myth that people asking for money are somehow scamming people, or that they’re making more money than having an “actual job”, or whatever. The “yeah I guy I know said he saw a panhandler pack up his stuff and hop in a BMW and drive off” urban legend is pervasive.

I think so many of these ideas are ways for people to assuage the cognitive dissonance of living in a so-called “rich” country, or “best country in the world” or whatever, and then seeing people suffering. They don’t want to believe that circumstances out of one’s control can cause people to end up like that. They have to believe that poor and homeless are either faking, scamming, or otherwise ended up there by their own stupid/irresponsible/ignorant/whatev choices. Otherwise it shatters the illusion of paradise.

Thing is, regardless of what so many think, poverty and homelessness aren’t the result of individual choices. They’re systemic choices. They’re social choices.

Sure, maybe Frank spent all his money on gambling and lost all of the rent money. Maybe Alice lost everything on some MLM that her friends said was a guaranteed win. Even so, why did they feel like they had to do these things? Because our capitalist society prizes money over everything. First, by the fact that you literally die without it. Second because it’s a status symbol. It shows you’ve “made it.” It forces people to do desperate things just to survive. They wouldn’t be in those situations if our society didn’t push them to it.

Also, who tf is going to pretend? Why would someone willingly stand out in the heat or cold, tear their clothes, rub themselves down with dirt, etc. and then beg from people who do nothing look down on them and scorn them? No one is out there pretending to be homeless raking in $70K/year.

So someone ends up homeless. Maybe they had a car before becoming homeless that they’d paid off, so they were able to keep it. They’re probably living out of it. They might have also had a phone, tablet, or other personal electronics. Selling your car and your phone isn’t going to net you enough to stay in your home when it comes down to the wire. And if you’re facing having to live on the street, then why not have something, anything to hold on to. So even if the “panhandler got into his Beemer” myth were real, so what? People’s circumstances change.

Which goes to another point: people expect performative poverty from the poor and homeless in order to believe they’re “worthy” of help. “Well, if you have an iPhone you must not be hurting that bad” is such a common idea, and it’s so, so completely wrong. When then follows along to the idea that you (the collective you), get to judge who’s worth of help. You get to decided who needs it enough. You get to decide what they should or shouldn’t use the money for. It’s a punitive paternalism. And it dovetails also into the idea that so many people hold, that they cannot possible support universal healthcare, universal childcare, UBI, or anything like that, because someone, somewhere, might get something they don’t “deserve.” Which is a horrifying way to construct a society.

We regularly talk about “earning a living”, without realizing that this phrase literally means that you don’t deserve to live unless you can prove it.

I’m of the idea that you should never have to pay for the things that you would die without: food, water, shelter, healthcare. Those are literal human rights that should never be gatekept. And a society can make that happen. We have the ability and the resources to make that happen. And every day that we choose not to is an atrocity.

So, to bring it back around: if someone is asking for help, handing them a bag of goodies, or your leftovers from dinner isn’t helpful. You don’t know their needs more than they do. And cash is the best way for them to get exactly what it is they need. And if they spend it on drugs or alcohol or a lottery ticket or whatever other supposedly friviouls thing? Makes no difference to me. Maybe that’s what they needed in that moment. That’s not for me to decide. They need help, and if I can, I will.

We absolutely need to address the societal and structural issues that drive poverty. But NGOs and NPOs are only in it for themselves. They care about maintaining their organizations. Solve the problems, and then there’s no need for them. That’s not a world they want. NPOs cannot and do not help. Coming together to fight for a better world, getting involved in local politics, finding actual socialist candidates and supporting their campaigns, joining unions, finding ways to fight capitalism, those are the things that help. But in the meantime, the symptoms have to be treated as well, and that’s were mutual aid comes in. Helping each other and lifting each other up as best as we can.