Why Should We Not Help the Homeless?

Why I Don't Give Money to Beggars Why I Don't Give Money to Beggars | In this video, Bulldog mindset suggests that if we give money to help the homeless, we are bad people. Load video

First, let me begin by stating that I am a firm believer that we should help the homeless. I think that many of them need our help, and so it is our duty to help them. I discuss the reasons for this in a multitude of articles that I'll link to in the "further reading" and "other helpful resources" sections at the bottom of this page.

But I would be a fool to deny that many good reasons exist for why we should not help the homeless.

Further, from my personal experience, I am uncomfortably aware that some people even believe that helping the homeless is bad.

If good reasons exist for why we should not help the homeless, then we ought to know what those reasons are. That way we can make an informed decision about whether or not to help.

Further convincing me to write this article was a web search on the query "Why we should not help the homeless." Some very good articles turned up, but lists of reasons for why we should not help were scarce.

After asking myself, why might some people believe that we should not help the homeless, this is what I came up with.

Here are the 9 most convincing reasons why we should not help the homeless:

9) HELPING THE HOMELESS TEACHES DEPENDENCY

Give a man a fish and he'll be hungry by the evening. But teach a man to fish, and awe... he'll never be hungry again.

That's the maxim that encapsulates this view. If we are to continue to help the homeless, they will continue to need help. But if we instead teach the homeless to help themselves, they will then never again need help. By helping the homeless when they are needy, we teach them to depend on us.

Knowing that they can depend on citizens and governments, the homeless strive not for self-sufficiency. Why would a person choose to work when everything they need is provided for them?
So we should not help the homeless because helping them teaches them dependency.

8) OUR TIME AND MONEY ARE BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE

There is no doubt that homelessness is a pressing issue. Because the homeless sleep outside, they experience death and suffering.

But homelessness is just one among many pressing issues of our time. It is just one among many even more important issues that we face concerning death and suffering.

Many regions of the world are still so poor that they lack access to clean water. Many places in the world are home to children who starve entire days due to extreme poverty.

If we are going to devote precious time and resources to pressing problems of our time, problems that are so immensely important because they cause death and suffering, then we ought to tackle the greatest issues that exist first. We ought to prioritize the problems that cause the greatest amount of suffering and death first.

Homelessness is by no stretch of the imagination the worst thing a person can experience. Admittedly, it is a problem that causes death and suffering, but as compared to the death and suffering caused by world wars or extreme poverty, the issue of homelessness falls short of importance.

Thus, we should not help the homeless because our time and money are spent better elsewhere.

7) HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE DRUG ADDICTS

What if we are overworked and sober while the homeless are unemployed and high? What if the reason they need help is that they choose to do drugs?

This is an excellent question because about a third of the homeless say the currently, or previously have struggled with a substance abuse issue (✓1). It is their drug problems, in many cases, that prevent the homeless from working.

If half of the homeless have drug problems, then that's probably why half of them need help. Why should we help the homeless then if the reason they need it is they choose to do drugs?

A drug problem, after all, is entirely reversible. It is an individual's choice to keep. Surely, it can sometimes not feel like an addiction is conquerable, but with an eager determination, and a willingness to seek services, drug addiction can be overcome.

The fact that a person still has an addiction suggests that he or she doesn't want to quit drugs. It suggests that an individual does not have a willingness to seek services to give up their addiction. It's not like drug rehabilitation programs are impossible to find. You walk into one and tell them that you are homeless and the government will pay for of it.

So if the homeless need help because they cannot work, and they cannot work because they use drugs, since drug addiction is entirely solvable, (to quit an individual need only a strong desire to give drugs up,) then we should not help the homeless because they choose to use drugs.

So let them get high and fend for themselves.

6) MANY OTHERS ARE ALCOHOLICS

As it goes with drug addiction, alcoholism is entirely reversible. To quit drinking, it only too takes an eagerness to quit using. With an eagerness to quit drinking, a person can attend alcoholic anonymous classes, or even choose to not drink on their own.

Yet, many of the homeless choose booze over a warm home. Homeless drunks wouldn't need our help if they just chose to give up the booze.

Thus, we should not help the homeless because many choose to be alcoholics.

5) HOMELESS PEOPLE REFUSE TO WORK

The homeless are often people who refuse to work. After all, it's not all that difficult to find a position in the fast food industry until a better job turns up.

So the fact that the homeless do not work indicates that they refuse to. With nothing but "hiring now" on signs taped to almost every business window, no good excuse can be made for why the homeless don't work.

To be clear, if they are victims of a mental illness, then maybe we should cut them some slack. But for the homeless who are not mentally ill, they need to get themselves a job.

To work, if the homeless are capable but not willing, then they brought their misfortunes on themselves.

Thus, we should also not help the homeless because many of them refuse to work.

4) HELPING THE HOMELESS CREATES MORE HOMELESSNESS

It is a basic fact of human psychology that a person strives toward pleasure and away from pain. In comparison to pleasure, pain is the greater motivator. If time and money are scarce, (which for everyone they are,) and helping the homeless ties up valuable time and money, time and money that could otherwise be spent elsewhere on more important pursuits, then we ought not to alleviate the pain that arises from homelessness.

We ought to let them suffer. By doing so, we discourage them and others from wanting to be homeless.

For others, surely, if everyone in society knows that if they become homeless no one will be there to help them, then few people will end up homeless. They will do everything in their power to avoid it because no one will be there to help.

For example, if we let the homeless freeze instead of giving them a blanket, the pain they'll experience from freezing will negatively reinforce being homeless. Removing the pain that is associated with being homeless, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. Helping the person out just encourages more homelessness.

For if people know that being homeless is not all that bad, it is not because others in society will take care of their needs, then they will be more likely to choose to be homeless.

Thus, we should not help the homeless because it creates more homelessness.

3) THE HOMELESS ARE ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF

This view is more commonly held by the general public than by governments. It's almost comical to imagine governmental officials believing that they should not help the homeless because citizens take care of all homeless' needs. (Though many religious institutions and non-profit organizations do help.)

But it is much more realistic to assume that citizens hold this view. Many citizens believe that governments take care of the homeless sufficiently.

If the homeless need help with something, the government is there to help. Therefore, we should not help the homeless because they are already taken care of.

A slight variation of this argument is that governments, not citizens, are responsible for taking care of the homeless. If we as citizens continue to help the homeless, then governments will not. But that's one of the things we pay our taxes for, for the government to help the homeless.

Thus, we should not help the homeless because they are already taken care of, (or should be,) by the government.

2) THEY DON'T NEED HELP

A study in the U.S. a while back found that over half of the homeless worked in the year the study was conducted (✓2). If homeless people work, then why do they need our help?

Not only that, but the situation of homelessness does warrant that we help.

In essence, homelessness is merely the state of being without a home. But humans have lived outside of wooden houses for much of our existence. We are adapted to living in the outdoors.

Thus, we should not help the homeless because they don't need our help.

1) THE HOMELESS DON'T DESERVE OUR HELP

If we are to help people, it ought to be based on deservedness. We do not have enough time in the day or money in the bank to help everyone who needs it. So we ought to prioritize the people that we help based on deservedness.

And the homeless are often people who do not deserve our help. Many of them are criminals, fleeing their homes to evade prosecution by the law.

And many others are unethical. They sit around all day and suck up tax money, while the rest of us work to support them. In no good book of morality is that considered virtuous.

Further, for a person to deserve something, he or she must be worthy of help. But how can a person who contributes nothing to society be worthy of our help?

FINAL THOUGHTS

It might be said that we should help the homeless, that for each of those views, another side can be more convincingly argued. But what are these other sides?

I challenge you to uncover them.

Present them to me on the contact form and we'll open up a discussion about it.

Because if no counterarguments are more convincing than the arguments that are presented here, then only wisely can we conclude that we should not help the homeless.

summary

Many reasons exist for why we should not help the homeless.

First, helping the homeless teaches them to be dependent. Knowing that we as a society are always there to help, they never learn to help themselves.

Next, we should not help the homeless because our efforts are better spent elsewhere. If we are to help anyone, it ought to be people who need our help more first.

Plus, the homeless are often drug and alcohol abusers. If they can't work because they refuse to quit using intoxicating substances, then we ought to let them fend for themselves.

We should also not help the homeless because many refuse to work. It's not right that we all work with broken backs while the homeless laugh and play.

In addition to the other reasons mentioned, we shouldn't help the homeless because doing so encourages more homelessness. Because people know that when homeless society will take care of them, more people ultimately become homeless.

Plus, many of the homeless are taken care of already. The government does, (or should be,) taking care of them right now as we're reading. Why go out of our way to help the homeless when we pay taxes for the homeless to be helped?

Besides, the homeless probably often don't even need our help. Many of them work. They just choose to be homeless to not have to pay rent.

Finally, we ought not to help the homeless because they don't deserve our help. Even if they do need help, their lack of good character renders them unworthy. Good people don't squander the government's money.

conclusion

So the next time you see a homeless person, pretend that they don't exist. Pretend they don't exist so that they'll figure out a way to support themselves. That's the only way they'll ever learn that we all must take care of ourselves.