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In general, it's a better idea to give money or goods or donate your time to a local shelter than to hand out food or change to the panhandlers. That's a stopgap measure that probably doesn't do much to solve the problem - it just makes you feel better for a little while. Increasing the capacity of homeless shelters to deal with the problems of the homeless - addiction, mental illness, depression, need for skills training - and making it possible for shelters to take in more people, including families, is a better if less immediately gratifying way to help out. I've seen it suggested that you carry fliers for local shelters and bus passes and hand those out, if you really want to help.
IMHO there's not much point in judging them. They got where they are for whatever reasons, and you can choose to help them or not. You're certainly not obligated to. Most people don't realize that the average family is 2 paychecks from being homeless. While sometimes people are homeless because they've made bad choices, other times they've lost their homes because of a series of circumstances beyond their control that could happen to pretty much any of us. Try being depressed when you HAVE a job and a home, and then imagine being depressed and homeless and trying to find a job.
The problem is not likely to go away any time soon. It may not be in your best interest to give handouts, but it's certainly in everyone's best interest to make sure that we're equipped as a society to deal with the problem and minimize the impact on people's lives.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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