Homeless?
 

These folks work in shifts. They arrive driving a red later model SUV and pick each other up after "work". They have better cell phones than I do. The one lady sometimes brings her dog with her to add to her act. There is also a kid in his early 20's that sits on the sidewalk outside the Circle K store with a visibly fake pathetic look on his face. I have told him to apply inside and he looks at me like I'm nuts.

Interviews from media tell that they make quite a good living at this and it's all TAX FREE! There are many threads in TOTV that discuss this. The answer is NO, save your money for you.

For 25 years, my dad volunteered as a chaplain for the Denver Police Department and was in fact the head chaplain and carried a lieutenant’s shield. He often walked along the Platte River on the path and would sit on park benches and chat with whoever was sitting there. Often that was a homeless person, and often he asked the question asked by the original poster. The answer was similar to yours. He several times parked his personal car near where a “homeless” person was begging, then followed the person to his or her car and followed the person home or watched the “homeless” person get picked up by a car full of similar people and driven home, just so he would know for sure.

The “homeless” people my dad talked to generally said something like “If you want to give a liar money for drinks or drugs, go ahead. If you want to help, donate to homeless shelters. Some of these people are real homeless people in need, but most of those are already cared for by the city or county and will be back on their feet again soon.”

I don’t know if this is true or not. There’s a long history of restless men (nearly always men) who for various reasons have to keep moving and ride the rails or whatever. During the 1920s and especially the 1930s, there were thousands who were honestly seeking a days hard work in exchange for a bed and a couple meals or a place as a hired man on a farm. These days, if you don’t want to work, it’s easier to survive in the cities.

I would favor renting land for homeless camps on American Indian reservations, setting up hundreds of nice 9x12’ cabins at each site, and group showers, restrooms, and mess halls, then paying the Indians to guard them and keep them safe. And there. Then make services available only there and forbid panhandling and vagrancy in cities. This would be much cheaper and more efficient and kinder than the current situation. Certainly much cheaper than jail time.

I don't think anything will be done to actually fix the problem, if the homeless are hidden away somewhere. One of my neighbors was commenting about how few homeless there are here compared to big cities, completely unaware of the fact that the Ocala National Forest is home to who knows how many homeless families.
So, the question is - do you want to address and fix the problem or just hide it somewhere, so it's easier to ignore?

But raking leaves and earning money for that could change the way a young person thinks about life and even give them a sense of worth. There are many paths to the same goal and that goal is being self sufficient. I don’t give to charities or give handouts to the homeless but I will give double the standard tip to someone who is working, take care of my yard service people at Christmas, same for the sanitation guys at Christmas, give the guy who changes my oil(not the shop he works for) a tip, but most importantly be there for family when and if they need anything so they don’t end up on the street

I often said that for 1% of our tax revenue we could put up tens of thousands of RV homes on public Forest land and create offices for medical and mental help as well as job training. But the politicians can't get any payback that way

Quick story
 

So I come out of McDonald's with my bag of food and there's a guy sitting in the median with his German Shepherd.
I gave him my bag as I can easily go around again to reorder and I see him taking the hamburger out and giving it to his dog. I guess he wasn't a hungry but the dog was

Another simple scam that you will see a lot is an older person or a younger person and a gas station with or without a car saying that their wallet was stolen or they have no money and they have to get to take your choice the hospital, philadelphia, or some such nonsense place and they need some gas money.

There are times over the years we're giving people money where it's really sounds truthful like they truly lost their wallet and they're trying to get out of a parking lot that requires payment or they're at a storage facility and they just realized that they didn't bring their wallet with them and I have to get some gas to go back home.

The reality is in life, you don't really know the story behind the person asking for a few dollars, The simple solution is always to take 5 or 10 bucks out of your pocket or whatever you have and be generous, we are all retired here and I presume most of us have decent money in the Bank and there is always somebody who could use it. Even if half the time someone is scamming you you can be generous and charitable. The saying simply goes for not the grace of God you can be that person in that position. So have some real feelings and take a few bucks that help someone out whether they really need it or not it's not going to kill you to be charitable. Don't be a grouch!!!

It is a shame to see them, but there are so many questions. This will get worse as soon as the illegals figure out how to do this.
Don't be a slave to free things.

Same as all over the USA.............some are needy, some are not.

No ones business if one donates or not.

No easy fix for ignorance and apathy.

All I can say is get a job!

There are a lot of places for them to go to for help. Please donate your money through legit charities.

Easy fix to this
 

We quit shopping at the WalMart on 441, now shop at the WalMart on 466 (Wedgewood Lane) no panhandlers there, also much cleaner store, larger selection, actually friendly people and more cashiers, the one on 441 is a pigsty in comparison, by the way I travel an additional 5 miles to shop at the one on 466, love it