Give money to charities not beggars, says PCSO.
A Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) who has been looking after Sheffield’s homeless for two decades has urged people not to give money to those begging for it.
PCSO Steve Hart patrols the city centre every morning, checking on the well-being of those on the streets and encouraging them to seek help so they can stop begging. PCSO Hart stated that donations to agencies and charities would benefit persons on the streets of Sheffield and other cities.
“I would not recommend giving money to someone who is begging. People struggle to understand that for some, it is a lifestyle decision. “That may not be what people want to hear, but I work with these people every day,” he explained.
PCSO Hart, 61, who has received the British Empire Medal for his contributions to policing and work with the homeless, stated that giving money to homeless individuals may be “enabling” their current lifestyle.
Instead, he urged people to donate money to organisations fighting to get them off the streets.
Andy, a former homeless man who had been on the streets for a year, claimed that begging exacerbated the condition.
“I hate to say it, but I think probably about 50% are fake homeless,” he told me. “They are officially homeless, but they prefer to be homeless [in order to beg]. “They can return home if they want.”
Katie, who PCSO Hart recently assisted in getting off the streets and into supported housing, expressed her disagreement with the officer’s view on providing money to beggars.
“People who are homeless must work. “They have nothing,” she explained. “What are they supposed to do?” “I did it myself.” Katie, on the other hand, noted that even though she disagreed with him on one point, she believed PCSO Hart was “brilliant”.
She stated that he had visited her and her companion Paul every morning “to make sure we’re all right”. “I don’t like coppers, but Steve is different,” she said. “He does listen to us. “He is just a nice person.”
Tim Renshaw, CEO of Sheffield homeless charity The Cathedral Archer Project, agreed there was no simple solution to the age-old dilemma of how to effectively assist the homeless.
“If you are talking to people who have lived experience on the streets, some do say people are going to get money for drugs and alcohol one way or another and if they are on the streets, they will probably need the drugs or alcohol to survive,” he told me.
However, Mr Renshaw compared begging to a full-time job, saying: “When people fall into a begging lifestyle, they don’t have time to work with the agencies that can help them get out of it.
“That means we have little chance of working with these people to change their life.”
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