I don't give money to homeless people for the same reason. The occasional rude responses can absolutely be frustrating but I think it helps (and is very difficult) to try to put yourself in the shoes of someone suffering from addiction.

There's a homeless man in my neighborhood named Kevin that I chat with most mornings when I walk my dog. He goes to a methadone clinic to help treat his addiction. I usually see him when I'm walking towards the coffee shop, ask him for his coffee/breakfast order, and he hangs out with my dog while I go inside. Most days he's a nice, personable, friendly guy who tells me "dad jokes" and has a bag of dog treats for his neighborhood friends. Sober Kevin is appreciative and would never dream of asking me for a dime. Some days he's coming off a bender and looking for money to buy more drugs and is kind of a dick. A lot of the benders coincide with him being unable to get to the clinic for one reason or another.

Occasionally sober Kevin will apologize for the way he spoke to me when he was single mindedly focused on his next high. He once offered the analogy of when you really need to pee. The absolute only thing your brain is capable of focusing on is finding a bathroom. You're urgently trying to solve this one, desperate problem. You're walking around asking and asking where the bathroom is and people keep saying "I can't help you find the bathroom, but here's a vending machine."

It's by no means an excuse for someone to be rude to a stranger trying to help but it certainly helps me have a little bit more compassion for those dealing with addiction. I think it's frustrating for them, too.

One thing I did for a while (I no longer live in a place with many panhandlers) was restaurant gift cards. It can't be spent on drugs or alcohol (at least not directly), and most cheap restaurants aren't going to kick out a homeless person very quickly on a cold night. I don't think I ever gave out double-digits of those, but I never got a bad reaction...

Here's the thing: 1. Homeless people are screwed by society in almost every possible way. 2. There are a million ways to get free food when you're homeless. I.e. hunger is a solved problem for most homeless people.

With this context in mind, you can see how offering someone your half-eaten leftovers, or forcing them to go on some journey with you in exchange for a basic meal, is not only unhelpful--it's downright insulting.

If you don't feel comfortable giving them money, or engaging in an honest conversation, then just say sorry and walk away.

And if you feel like you want to help homeless people without giving them money, then give the money to an organization instead.

The bottom line: don't expect homeless people to be grateful to you, especially if what you're offering is next to nothing for them.

> Once we stop judging addicts as being intrinsically bad people and see it as a mental health issue, we can solve a lot of this problem.

I suspect what mental health issues mean to most people is you now have a vaguely scientific explanation of why someone is intrinsically bad.

I've distributed hygiene kits such as those in a shelter environment and most people were very grateful for them. It probably depends on the environment you're in. But the bottom line is if something isn't well received then don't offer it, or try to offer it in a different context.

If someone was really dedicated, then they would sit down with one or two people from the homeless community and ask them what they want and how they want to receive it.

Most of us aren't willing to do this, and that's fine. I think the problem is that we expect it to be easy to please a homeless person because they "have nothing." But in reality they are complex human beings like everyone else and they don't want to be treated as lesser.