Quote:
Originally Posted by tomwed
from Everything You Think You Know About Panhandlers Is Wrong | ThinkProgress
In addition, some justify doing little to fight homelessness because, in their view, many homeless people don’t want help and prefer living on the streets. However, researchers discovered that, on the contrary, just 3 percent of panhandlers don’t want housing.
Among the survey’s findings:
83 percent are men
48 percent are African American
31 percent are white
69 percent are single
26 percent served in the military
70 percent are 40 to 59 years old
58 percent have been panhandling for at least five years
53 percent panhandle seven days a week
60 percent make $25 a day or less
94 percent use the money for food
44 percent use it for drugs or alcohol
62 percent are disabled
25 percent are alcoholics
32 percent are addicted to drugs
82 percent are homeless
In total, 146 people participated in the survey. |
I used the link to read the article that you quoted. I think it is important to note that the survey was conducted among panhandlers in the Union Square area in San Francisco. It did not mention how many panhandlers declined to respond to the survey. I suspect that the "scammers" who were not really in need of money would be much more hesitant to answer questions that would identify them as being far from needy.
Also, the people in parking lots around The Villages who are asking for gas money are likely to be much different demographically from the panhandlers around Union Square in San Francisco. Anyone who has spent some time in the downtown area of a large city has likely seen homeless people sleeping on the streets. they are much different from the people around The Villages who are asking strangers for money.