Giving on the street
Should you give money to someone asking for help on the street?
Whether to give money to someone asking for help on the street is your call, and saying no is fine. If you are worried about where the money goes, a Toronto study of 54 people panhandling downtown found that their biggest expense was food, followed by tobacco, then alcohol or drugs1.
If you would rather not give cash, you can buy what the person asks for, call 311 to send the City's street outreach team2, or give toward a winter survival kit.
The Toronto study
What 54 people asking for change said they spent it on.
In early 2001, two Toronto researchers approached 67 people panhandling in a small area of downtown Toronto, and 54 agreed to be interviewed1. They published what they found in the Canadian Medical Association Journal the next year:
- Median income from panhandling was $300 a month, and $638 a month from all sources1.
- The biggest reported expense was food. Tobacco came second, then alcohol or illicit drugs1.
- 38 of the 54, or 70%, said they would prefer a minimum-wage job1.
- The authors concluded that most of the people they interviewed were homeless and living in extreme poverty1.
The study has limits, and the authors named some of them. The numbers are self-reported, the people earning the most were probably less likely to take part, and every dollar is a 2001 dollar1. Still, it was the closest look at this question in Toronto that we could find, so it is the one we cite.
Source: Bose and Hwang, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2002
The Vancouver study
What people did with $7,500.
In a study published in 2023, researchers in Vancouver gave a one-time, no-strings payment of $7,500 to 50 people who had become homeless within the previous two years3. Compared with a group who did not get the money, they spent more on rent, food and transit, and their spending on alcohol, drugs and cigarettes did not go up3.
The people in that study were screened, and people with severe substance use or mental health problems were left out3. And $7,500 at once is a different thing from spare change. The study tells you how a group of people without housing used a lump sum, and it cannot tell you what one person you pass on the street will do.
Source: Dwyer and colleagues, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023
Weighing it up
Things to weigh, either way.
Once you hand money over, it belongs to the person you gave it to. Cash lets someone pick what they need most that day, which might be a meal, a phone top-up or a TTC fare, and it also means you will not know which.
If you would rather buy something, ask first. A sandwich nobody asked for is one more thing to carry, and the person may need socks more. "Can I get you something?" is enough of a question.
You do not owe anyone a stop. "Sorry, not today" is a complete reply, and if you do not carry cash, you can just say that.
If it is the same person most mornings, ask them what would help over a week. Their answer will beat any list, ours included.
Other ways to help
If you would rather not give cash.
Buy what is asked for.
If someone asks for a coffee or something to eat, buy that, and ask how they take it. In winter, dry socks, a hat and gloves are worth keeping in your bag, and our list of what people outside need in winter explains why each one is there.
What people sleeping outside need in winter
Call 311 for the City's street outreach.
Toronto's Streets to Homes outreach workers go out to people sleeping outside, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for anyone 16 or older2. Call 311 and describe where the person is2. Outreach can bring water and referrals to food programs, help with ID and income supports, refer people to a shelter bed through Central Intake, and hand out blankets and sleeping bags in winter2.
If someone is unresponsive, or you do not think they will get through the night where they are, call 911.
Give toward a kit.
Engage and Change packs winter survival kits, each with 30+ new items including a sleeping bag and a backpack. More than 200 front-line agencies across the GTA, outreach programs among them, hand the kits to people they already work with4. $50 helps build one, and CanadaHelps issues the tax receipt automatically4.
Give toward a kit
$50 helps build a kit.
Company teams pack 3,500 kits in a single day each January, and the next pack is January 16, 20274. Since 1999, nearly 95,000 have gone out4.
Making your own care kits to hand out? Here is our checklist.
Questions people ask
The short answers.
Is it bad to give money to homeless people?
No. It is a personal choice. In the Toronto study we cite, food was the biggest expense for people asking for change, followed by tobacco, then alcohol or drugs1.
Will they spend it on drugs or alcohol?
Some money may go there. In the Toronto study, alcohol or drugs came third, after food and tobacco1. In a Vancouver study where people who had recently lost their housing each got $7,500, spending on alcohol, drugs and cigarettes did not go up3. Once you give money, how it gets spent is up to the person you gave it to.
What can I give homeless people instead of money?
What should I say if I don't want to give anything?
"Sorry, not today" is enough. If you do not carry cash, you can say so.
Who do I call about someone sleeping outside in Toronto?
Is it better to give to a charity?
The two do different things. Money handed to a person helps that person today, in whatever way they choose. A gift to a charity comes with a tax receipt and goes where the charity sends it; ours goes into kits that agencies hand out across the GTA4.
Sources
- Bose R, Hwang SW. Income and spending patterns among panhandlers. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2002;167(5):477-479. Interviews conducted in Toronto, February to April 2001. PubMed Central PMC121964.
- City of Toronto, Streets to Homes Street Outreach Support Program. toronto.ca Streets to Homes.
- Dwyer R, Palepu A, Williams C, Daly-Grafstein D, Zhao J. Unconditional cash transfers reduce homelessness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2222103120. Plain-language summary: University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, "We gave $7,500 to people experiencing homelessness," September 18, 2023. psych.ubc.ca summary.
- Engage and Change. Project Winter Survival kit list and program figures, engageandchange.org (project-winter-survival, donate), as of October 2026; totals (nearly 95,000 kits since 1999) as confirmed by the board, October 11, 2026. Project Winter Survival.
Sources checked October 11, 2026.