Why You Should Give Money to Homeless People

"It was not his business to judge whether they were deserving"

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' (Matthew 25:34-36)

Some of you may not realize that I’ve given this piece a provocative title. You might well be thinking, ‘What’s next? Will John tell me to brush my teeth twice a day?’ But while you might have shrugged your shoulders at this title, I strongly suspect it will come across as irritatingly naive to others. Lots of people, including a surprising number of Christians, strongly oppose giving money to the homeless.

To be sure, this is a complicated social issue. You can probably think of a few cities suffering immensely because of a homelessness problem spiraling out of control. Furthermore, many pan handlers are alcoholics and drug addicts. Some of them are flat out con artists. Asking for money can even be the prelude to a robbery. By giving these people money, the argument goes, you are enabling their self-destructive lifestyles, and you’re putting yourself in a dangerous situation to boot. Better to give your money to organizations that actually work towards real solutions to the problem.

What say I in response? Right off the bat I want to clarify that in any situation where someone on the street asks you for money, you need to be aware of your surroundings and trust your gut. If someone is obviously asking in bad faith, or you don’t feel safe, I am not talking about these sorts of situations. I also won’t discuss whether it’s better to give food rather than money because buying food doesn’t really let you off the hook with the arguments I listed above.¹

What I am talking about is the vast majority of instances where a person who poses no threat to you asks for money. This situation is uncomfortable, but it is not dangerous. It is uncomfortable because we know we can give but we don’t want to, and we feel guilty for not wanting to. I suspect this is one explanation for the strange vehemence I see from some people arguing against giving money to the homeless. At different points in my life their arguments have caused me to wonder whether I should stop giving all together. But two things changed my mind: the examples of Saint Robert Bellarmine and the wisdom of my friend Gabriel.

The Example of Saint Robert Bellarmine

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine is widely known and revered for being a stalwart pillar of Catholic theology and moral authority in the turbulent wake of the Protestant reformation. What is far less known and appreciated about him is his radical generosity towards the poor. I learned about his inspiring witness while reading Thomas Dubay’s life changing book Happy Are You Poor. Dubay quotes Bellarmine biographer James Brodrick at length:

“It was not merely what he gave, however, but his manner of giving that made St. Robert the idol of the unfortunate. He treated them as gentlemen, always standing and removing his cap when they came in. No matter how late might be the hour or how weary and worn out he might be, there was a welcoming smile for them, and a patient ear for the longest of stories. He had no use for the platitudes of officialdom. It was enough for him that a fellow creature was cold or hungry or houseless. It was not his business to judge whether they were deserving, and his charity was of the authentic kind that thinks no evil, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He had quite a good deal to endure for, of course, he was imposed upon and cheated again and again…He had a fixed principle that it is better to be deceived a hundred times than to miss one genuine case²

I don’t know if I fully agree with Bellarmine’s fixed principle. Most of us can’t afford to be deceived a hundred times. Besides, responsible stewardship is also a Christian value. What I do know is this; some people seem to have a fixed principle that it’s better to miss a hundred genuine cases than to be deceived once. That’s about as close as it gets to the polar opposite of Christian morality. If we are anywhere near as generous as the Gospel calls us to be, we have to accept that our generosity will be wasted and taken advantage of from time to time.

For me I think the error lies in risk calculation. When you give money to a pan handler, there’s a real chance (and probably a strong one) that your generosity might be wasted, and even turn out to be counterproductive. But in order to properly judge a risk, you have to compare it to the opposite risk. Here the opposite risk is that you fail to help someone who needs it.

In that case, not only did you ignore the cry for help from someone who needed it, but according to the scriptures, you are ignoring the cries of Christ himself in the poor. In my opinion, the risk of unintentionally giving someone a little extra drug money pales in comparison to the risk of further cementing the isolation, degradation, and poverty of someone bearing the image of Christ.

My friend Gabriel

In a conversation I had with my friend Gabriel, he said something which accentuated this point even further.  When the question of ‘but isn’t it true that a lot of them are addicts?’ came up, Gabriel spoke up and said that in these situations ‘I think about all the graces I have wasted.’ This is a crucial insight. Jesus says that “…the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” (Matthew 7:2)

We fear and judge homeless people for the possibility that they will waste and take advantage of our generosity. But how many times have we wasted and taken advantage of the generosity of God and others?

How many times have I gone to confession only to fall right back into the same sins? How many times have I promised to change my behavior without serious follow through? How many times have I accepted help without it producing long term change? Does any of this stop me from asking for second chances? Would I want others to immediately judge me and reject my desperate and humiliating pleas for help because of these failures?

After all of the money I’ve blown without a second thought on fast food, entertainment, impulse purchases, overpriced alcohol etc., who am I to turn around and start meticulously vetting where my pocket change goes? Why do I all of sudden get extremely fiscally responsible when someone asks for my help?

After all of the second chances I’ve squandered from God and others, who am I to appoint myself as the one in charge of giving out tough love to someone I’ve never met and know nothing about?

Final thoughts

Whether you’ve been persuaded by all this or not, and whether you choose to give money to a pan handler or not, it is of the utmost importance that you remember the dignity of the person. You can refuse to help someone without dehumanizing them.

-Look them in the eye.

-Don’t pretend you don’t see them.

-Don’t pretend you don’t have time to talk to them when you really do.

-Don’t lie or make lame excuses for not giving to them.

-If you can’t or don’t want to give to them or spend time with them, tell them directly and respectfully.

-Don’t run from the discomfort you feel - what is God trying to tell you about himself and the poor by allowing you to experience these feelings of turmoil and helplessness?

I am not claiming to perfectly apply any of these thoughts, and I certainly don’t think this reflection is the final word on the issue. But I hope that it will inspire you to think and pray seriously about whether and why you choose to give or not. This is one of our most serious obligations; let’s pray for each other that we will have the courage and love to accept God’s help in carrying it out.

1. Food is still a form of assistance that isn’t attached to any requirement to reform. If you buy food for a drug addict they will use the money they saved from not having to buy food to buy drugs.

2. James Brodrick, Robert Bellarmine pp. 164-165