“The homeless industry”?
Didn’t you know? They’re assembled in factories.
Yeah the industry has been in the shit since credit and debit cards. A homeless guy with a chip and pin device to get donations is completely off-message for the brand
So apparently around Los Angeles there’s a supposed begging “cartel”, wherein some of the folks who beg at stoplights and freeway off ramps are actually working for an organized ring. The way it was explained was that this group takes the lionshare of their donations and offer protection, food, and safe sleeping areas. I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve heard it from quite a few unrelated people, one of which being a cop, so either there’s some truth to it or it’s a very elaborate hoax to get people to stop giving beggars money.
Not even homeless people can escape landlords
lionshare
Lion’s hare? That’s weird.
Did you mean “lion’s share”, but couldn’t write?
In India, this kind of thing is common, especially when the beggars are children.
One of the story arcs of Slumdog Millionaire.
Pretty sure that it is one of those things that does happen rarely, but people tend to assume everyone is doing it as an excuse to dismiss the homeless problem.
I know in my city I’ve seen a “homeless” guy beg for money, with a cardboard sign. Then goes and gets into his sports car and drives off.
And that got me thinking. Most people who give, don’t give a dollar. They give a few dollars. So lets just say they get about $40 in an hour.
That’s $40 untaxed. And there’s nothing stopping them from just doing this all day. Remember, I’m not talking about actual homeless people. I’m talking about scam beggers.
Imagine doing $40 an hour average, for 10 hours, every day, for doing nothing. Set your own schedule. Never gotta worry about being late. Can’t get fired. Practically zero costs to start this business. You need a piece of cardboard, a marker, and MAYBE a folding chair.
So yeah. I’d say it’s an industry. An unregulated, scam, borderline illegal industry.
seen a “homeless” guy beg for money, with a cardboard sign. Then goes and gets into his sports car and drives off.
This isn’t new: 20-20 used to do exposés on this kind of thing, and profiled (tailed) a beggar on the tonnele off-ramp and circle as he walked to his car, put his over-costume in his trunk, and drove off. This was in like 1999. On interviewing him, he admitted he made decent coin.
Support your food banks. They need cash.
I know in my city I’ve seen a “homeless” guy beg for money, with a cardboard sign. Then goes and gets into his sports car and drives off.
Yeah? You’ve seen it? You saw him begging and saw him get in a luxury car and drive away? He parked right beside where he was begging?
I call bullshit.
Yeah. I saw him begging for 3 weeks. Then one day he walked across the street to the parking lot, and got in a red sports car.
Studies suggest this is an extreme minority, and stories like yours - while yours might be true (and be fair to me here, we’re just two usernames, we don’t know each other’s motives and biases), it’s often used to push reasons to defund homeless shelters and criminalize being poor.
Even if you have seen a homeless person (or imposter) do something wrong, it might be worth considering that being homeless is very difficult and often caused by pre-existing medical conditions or institutionalized discrimination.
Which is crazy, because those types wouldn’t live in a homeless shelter
well of course not, they all have sports cars etc etc
In some sketchy areas of the world, the local gangs use the disabled/amputees to beg all day and collect a portion of their donations
