Homeless people / panhandlers

[Marnixvdb]

here in the netherlands, a postdoc did research to what the true beggars (people asking for money without giving anything in return like music, homeless-newspaper, etc) on the street of Brussels earn. On this link you can find a short newsstory on it in English.

<u>Her Conclusions:</u>

there were app. 260 'real' beggars in the centre of the town.

2/3 were Gypsy women (Roma) from Romania, nearly all with some kind of home (mobile, cramped appartment), usually completely uneducated and without many, if any alternatives to earn money

The rest were homeless Belgians, with the odd exception from Marokka or Portugal - nearly all had suffered some kind of personal trauma.

the population wsa different than a few years back when there were more alchoholic men on the streets.

Average gift that was received:
Roma - € 0,89
Belgian bum - € 0,84

Average monthly earn:
Roma - € 350
Belgian bum - € 900

- No sign of organised crime profiting from sending people on te street to beg (earn is too low), with the exception of one 6 year old case of a gang forcing disabled romanians to beg for them
- Bringing along their childern didn't significantly increase the earn of Roma women
- Most novice beggars initially start drinking to find the courage to withstand the humiliation of begging