A stencil by Melbourne artist Meek. Says it all really...
Photo lifted from www.stateofflux.com - check it out.

Surely everyone’s story that leads up to them begging in a developed country must be so convoluted and individualised that trying to tease out what aspects of their life could have been changed so they didn’t end up scrounging for spare coins would be impossible.  Which I guess means that everyone’s case is different.  How does one quantify the effects of family, education, employment (or unemployment), drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness, violence, alienation and general disconnection with the “norm” of society?  Which variables can be predicted? Which can be changed so that the person becomes a contributor rather than a drain on society?  There are also no doubt people who beg as a scam.  They derive tax-free income from fleecing generous strangers.  I don’t have any sympathy for these fuckbags, I’ve seen a couple in my neighbourhood, sitting there with their sign saying they’re homeless, need money for accommodation etc, and then later in the same day I’ve seen them walking down the street, pockets sagging under the weight of the shrapnel they’ve collected and marching into the special accommodation flat they live in.  How do I know that’s where they live?  Because I’ve met them as patients in the Emergency Department where I work, and have the address I’ve seen them at on their file.  So it proves that some of these pricks are basically robbing you if you give them money.  In a country where the welfare system is suboptimal but adequate (and which is still being rorted by thousands of people nationwide who are either working in cash-in-hand jobs and collecting the dole or who are just too fucking lazy to get a job – I have several friends who are doing this), I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the genuine beggars as well.  In my neighbourhood at least I know there are several shelters where people can find accommodation, there are community agencies dedicated to providing food for the homeless and other supports that people in their situation may require, in fact I often have to refer people to the Social Workers in my ED to arrange this sort of help. Granted that some people’s lives are so fucked that when they hit rock bottom it may not even occur to them that there are supports already in place for people in their situation and they don’t need to beg.  Also I’m constantly wary about the drug issue (as per the London tube station posters) and the scammers.

Mind you as I’ve heard happens in any city hosting a major event Melbourne apparently forked out a lot of money to provide temporary accommodation for the homeless while the Commonwealth Games were on in March to give the impression that we don’t have a problem, and this is fucked, yet not at all surprising when you have a conservative government in power.  (They are also introducing a “zero tolerance” policy toward graffiti, including stencil art – see www.stateofflux.com for more info – which is insane as Melbourne is the unofficial stencil art capital of the world).  Anyway who knows what will happen, as the worlds big cities get more and more crowded, as the gap between rich and poor widens, and the pathetic attempts at helping people with serious drug problems, mental illness and social difficulties that lead them to beg continue to fail, will we see any real change?