hmmm I’m in two minds about this. On one hand, I’ve been to Huedin in Romania, where money from begging ends up in giant empty houses. At the same time, the article gives no clues as to what mitigating measures will be taken to compensate the ban for the actual beggars. That seems a grave injustice, just banning and fining them but not setting up extra support channels.
Then again, I have no idea about current facilities and measures for helping beggars out of poverty, perhaps they are sufficient (which I doubt).
I have no 1st-hand experience with being homeless but Belgium appears to be on the ball with welfare. They have shelters, social housing, and food. I would be surprised if anyone was starving.
I think the homeless shelters exclude drunks. So I can see how a alcoholics might fall through the cracks on that and I believe this is why we see some people sleeping on the street. If the shelters were open to drunks, that would fail to incentivise fighting the addiction. But I don’t imagine that drunks are denied food. In any case, I don’t see how giving to beggars is a good solution. I would sooner look for a charity that tries to address any shortcomings and give to them because they will ensure the aid is better allocated than ad hoc begging.
hmmm I’m in two minds about this. On one hand, I’ve been to Huedin in Romania, where money from begging ends up in giant empty houses. At the same time, the article gives no clues as to what mitigating measures will be taken to compensate the ban for the actual beggars. That seems a grave injustice, just banning and fining them but not setting up extra support channels.
Then again, I have no idea about current facilities and measures for helping beggars out of poverty, perhaps they are sufficient (which I doubt).
I have no 1st-hand experience with being homeless but Belgium appears to be on the ball with welfare. They have shelters, social housing, and food. I would be surprised if anyone was starving.
I think the homeless shelters exclude drunks. So I can see how a alcoholics might fall through the cracks on that and I believe this is why we see some people sleeping on the street. If the shelters were open to drunks, that would fail to incentivise fighting the addiction. But I don’t imagine that drunks are denied food. In any case, I don’t see how giving to beggars is a good solution. I would sooner look for a charity that tries to address any shortcomings and give to them because they will ensure the aid is better allocated than ad hoc begging.