Fairfax County urges the public not to support panhandlers

Zoran at his post on the approach to the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge in Arlington. He lives in the woods nearby and says, “I’m lucky to get $20 a day.”

In response to an uptick in panhandling throughout Fairfax County, the county government is advising the public not to give money to people begging on the street.

So far, the Fairfax County Police Department has received approximately 2,100 calls related to panhandlers in 2017. The calls range from traffic issues to concerns about the panhandler to fears about a suspicious person at an intersection.

The county is encouraging people tempted to help out a panhandler to find other ways to be generous, such as donating to charities, volunteering in a homeless shelter, or giving panhandlers the phone number for the human services hotline, 703-222-0880, so they can receive appropriate assistance.

Asking for money is a protected act under the First Amendment. Panhandling in public areas, including roadway medians, is not against the law and is not banned in Fairfax County.

While some panhandlers are truly in need, others are from outside the area and part of “organized, professional panhandling rings,” Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield) writes in an email message to constituents. Others do it “because they can make more money panhandling than working.”

The Board of Supervisors recently approved a motion by Herrity to look at an innovative program in Albuquerque, N.M., called “There’s a Better Way,” that puts panhandlers to work for $9 an hour. Herrity also notes there is a similar but more comprehensive program called “Ready to Work” in Boulder, Colo.

He suggests panhandlers could be given jobs to improve streetscapes in commercial revitalization districts, work in county parks or for other agencies, or even perform low-skilled labor for the private sector.

His motion calls for the county executive to have the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness work with nonprofits, the business community, and county agencies that employ unskilled labor to identify if and how a program like There’s a Better Way or Ready to Work could be implemented.