I don't think most people have an issue with giving food. Generally it's reservations about giving money directly with no way to be sure they'll use it on necessities and not say, illicit substances that will end up making their situation worse.

It's also a matter of the difficulty and time investment of getting close enough to learn what would benefit them best to give them, while shielding yourself from any potential danger from potential untreated mental health issues.

Then all of that also becomes a matter of time and effort, which most people feel they have a deficit of. So homeless people go unhelped.

It sucks and shitheads deserve to get called out, but like a lot of things Devil's Panties calls out I feel like chronic exposure to news and social media magnifies these types of shitheads compared to just being out in the world talking to folks and touching grass.

None of that is an excuse for cruelty, or to just not help. It's just the common thread I hear when talking to people IRL about helping or giving to the homeless.

Simple solution is to go make a bunch of generic "go bags" of essentials and non-perishable foodstuffs for any homeless person you just encounter, and if you see someone more frequently you can take the time it takes to safely get to know them and what they most need.

I find trying to interpret things in good faith helps more than loudly raging about the worst assholes of any group.

Venting is fine, but I feel that's where things begin and end for more people lately, never getting to the point of working to make things better.

The loudest assholes don't care about you raging against them, and might even be emboldened by it. The people who aren't such big assholes get offended that what they consider is relatively normal and justifiable behavior is being linked in with those assholes. People actively on your side of things can feel overwhelmed and like they'll be attacked the same way for not doing enough.

Edit: And oh yeah, if you're Christian then none of those concerns are supposed to matter. You're taught to give explicitly to/at/past the point of any actual real personal detriment (specifics depend on the book/verse, but it's repeated often throughout).

Jesus Christ was absolutely a progressive radical for his time, and sadly much of his actual teachings still are. WWJD? Chase the money lenders away with a whip made from his own sandals.

luckily, there's a foolproof way to tell if someone deserves food:

are they alive? then they deserve food 👍