Is giving money the best way to help the homeless?

 If we want to help the homeless, should we                 give them money?

The problem of wether it's better to give or not to give money to the beggars is not new and it still raises controversy. In the podcast I listened to, this problem was shortly presented from a few different perpectives which gave me a new insight into this difficult topic.

For example, a woman who used to be street homeless said that when she had begged for money she tended to spend it on mcdonald's coffee, because she had to spend all of the night there, for she was assaulted when she slept on the streets.

There was also an opinion that seemed very thought-provocing for me. It said that all of the people (including beggars) should have the right to choose how to use their money. And just because you have more money, it doesn't give you the right to be judgemental. The difference between beggars and other people is that we have been more lucky than they.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05wl0pt