Don’t give cash to street panhandlers

It’s not the biggest threat to public safety, I admit, but panhandling along and often onNorth Carolina roadways is illegal, dangerous, counterproductive — and commonplace.

During my daily travels in the capital city, I routinely see panhandlers approach idling cars at traffic lights and stop signs to beg motorists for cash. Many have been working their “territories” for so long that I recognize them on sight, as do their regular “customers.” The panhandlers bring shoulder bags, water bottles, and other supplies to stow on curbs or medians and hold up signs proclaiming themselves to be homeless moms, disabled veterans, or folks just temporarily down on their luck.

They’re not just ubiquitous in Raleigh. I’ve also seen such panhandlers during recent trips to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Asheville. Perhaps you’ve seen them where you live, too.

In my day job, I run a charitable foundation that funds shelters, food pantries, free clinics, job training, and substance abuse treatment, among other worthy causes. I believe in the power of philanthropy to alleviate suffering and change lives. But it is unwise to give cash to someone you don’t really know, whose true needs you can’t possibly know, and whose claims may well be exaggerated or fabricated.

It took me a while to learn this lesson. When I moved to Washington in 1988 for my first magazine job, I was unprepared for the lines of beggars in the streets and subway entrances. After falling for their lines a few times, I stopped giving cash and offered to buy panhandlers sandwiches or cups of coffee. Many spurned me. Then I started offering addresses to shelters and other facilities. Most responded with disdain, contempt, or profanity. After one panhandler tried to rob me, I resolved to channel my charitable impulses more constructively.

When it comes to aggressive panhandling in and around streets, however, the potential harms are greater. It slows traffic and endangers both pedestrians and motorists. It promotes disorder.

And it’s against state law for a person to “stand or loiter in the main traveled portion, including the shoulders and median, of any State highway or street” or “stop any motor vehicle for the purpose of soliciting employment, business or contributions.” Municipalities are permitted to make an exception for solicitors who obtain written permission to raise funds on a particular day.

Last month, the city of Raleigh enacted its own ordinance to crack down on panhandling in its streets and medians. “I think we’re trying to protect rights, but then also protect the safety of the entire community,” Mayor Janet Cowell told WTVD-TV. “Both the individuals actually panhandling, but also pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, anyone that is out there in the traffic of a big, congested city.”

Just so. To the extent other municipalities have yet to clarify what is and isn’t permissible panhandling on public property, their leaders should do so.

Just to be clear: federal courts may well deem as unconstitutional a sweeping ban against panhandling on all public property. The First Amendment, as applied to states and localities via the 14th Amendment, prohibits lawmakers from distinguishing between, say, begging for money and handing out political brochures. Both are protected speech. But when done on public property, both can be subject to reasonable time, space, and manner restrictions. That renders more defensible limits on forms of solicitation that may imperil public safety or the free flow of traffic, such as North Carolina’s statute and Raleigh’s new ordinance.

Professionals or trained volunteers who minister to the poor are doing the Lord’s work. We should aid them and, if possible, join their ranks. What we should not do is hand cash to beggars in medians or streets.

Very few are temporarily down on their luck. Most are hustlers, addicts, or mentally ill. The former ought to be encouraged to find a safer and more productive line of work. And the latter need a more effective intervention than cash passed through the windows of passing cars.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy and American history.