You might see panhandlers on Ottawa or Toronto streets, or downtown in what ever city you live in. When panhandlers ask for money for food, they might want fast food as a break from what ever is on the menu at the shelter or soup kitchen, but in all likelihood they want to buy drugs or alcohol. Many homeless people are drug addicts, alcoholics, and/or they suffer from mental illness. Most people do not choose to be homeless, and a lot of people who are homeless have great difficulty escaping their predicament. Homeless people are not anchored to society, they have hit rock bottom, and they have nothing to lose. The best way to stop homelessness is to provide affordable housing for everyone, and programs to help addicts and to help people with mental illnesses to better function in society. Giving a panhandler your spare change will not make a long term difference in his or her life, but a government program could. We live in a free society where addicts and the mentally ill have to the right to refuse services as long as they do not get caught breaking the law. Perhaps more aggressive outreach and counseling is required. This will cost tax dollars, but it is not the band aid solution shelters are today, and it could severely reduce homelessness and panhandling. I think the Ontario Coalition against Poverty is right about laws against panhandling; they do not address issues of poverty, mental illness, or addiction, another words they do not address issues of why people are homeless in the first place.

-Jason Setnyk