People often say that you shouldn’t give homeless people money because they will spend it on things they don’t really need or will waste it. They argue that you should instead purchase food for those living on the streets because this is something they most likely need and it will genuinely help them.

Well, people in the homeless community aren’t always receptive to receiving food, and will often spurn the offer and reject the food. Their refusal to accept the food is often for a number of reasons.

Being a former homeless person myself, I would always be thankful for food that was given to me and even if I didn’t want to eat it, I would at least thank the person offering it and would pretend as if I would eat it later.

So maybe you’re the type of person to give food to the homeless, maybe you’re thinking about it, or maybe you’re homeless yourself and have refused food in the past. Either way, all people are different and there’s obviously different reasons for a person not wanting to accept food donations. The following are just some of the top scenarios where homeless people will refuse food and why.

Malicious Poisonings
The most common reason that any homeless person wouldn’t accept food is due to the possibility of being intentionally poisoned by a stranger with malicious intent. Food from strangers can be intentionally or unintentionally poisoned.

Intentionally means that a stranger purposely and maliciously poisons food in an attempt to harm or kill a homeless person. Intentional poisonings are a genuine concern and anybody living on the streets has most likely already learned to take a defensive position because of all the external threats they face everyday.

While this scenario is rare, it has happened. In 2016, vagrants in Bogota, Colombia were reportedly being poisoned with food by an unknown person who was pretending to be charitable. In 2019, a homeless man in Liverpool, England was hospitalized with arsenic poisoning which he attributed to food that a stranger had given him. These are just some of the more recent reports that have been covered in the media, but it has happened multiple other times in the past.

Accidental Poisonings
Then, there’s always the possibility of unintentional poisonings in the form of bacteria as well. When you purchase food from a restaurant, they will normally have safety standards they follow in order to meet the health department’s guidelines and stay in business.

But a stranger can easily purchase or make food that is not subject to the same standards that a business is. Without proper food handling and care, donated food can become infected with viruses or bacteria such as Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), E. coli, and Hepatitis A.

Many homeless shelters across the United States, England, Brazil, Italy, and elsewhere have been in the media over the years due to food poisoning outbreaks that occurred there. In many cases, up to 50 or more people became ill in a single day after eating at some of these facilities. If food poisonings can happen in shelters, where employees are normally asked to follow food safety procedures when handling food, the possibility of it happening with strangers on the streets is even greater.

They Don’t Need It
Depending on where a person is living, there are normally all sorts of food assistance and resources available to the homeless community in most cities. This ranges from EBT (aka “food stamps”) to cash assistance from the local social services department.

There are also many food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens which provide free food to people struggling. Sometimes there’s so many of these places in large cities that the amount of food a person has access to and receives can be overwhelming.

At the time I was homeless in California, I was eating more food and gaining more weight than I ever had before when I was doing better. I knew much of the food would be thrown out once it expired, and I had very little income. So I had no problem eating whatever food the local non-profits offered me.

But again, this scenario depends entirely on the country, city, or area a person is in and how willing they are to reach out for help. In more rural areas or less developed countries many homeless people struggle to find their next meal. So for those who have unlimited amounts of food being served to them every day, multiple times a day, there’s no reason for them to accept food from strangers when they are not even hungry.

Pride and Guilt
Many homeless people won’t accept food and other donations from people simply because they are either too proud to accept help or because they will feel guilty if they do. If you’re not homeless yourself, you should keep in mind that those who are homeless are just like regular people when it comes to emotions and characteristics.

Many people were taught as children that they should be responsible and self-sufficient. While this may seem to conflict with the idea of someone who is not holding a job or who can’t keep a roof over their head, many people on the streets still feel that they are in control of their life and situation and think that if they need help, they can help themselves.

Prideful people may still accept some forms of help from others, but most people still have a limit on just how much help they are willing to accept. Just because someone is getting free food from shelters, it does not mean that they will also feel alright with getting food from strangers. They may be too prideful or they may even feel guilty by taking the food.

They might be aware of the fact that shelters and other non-profits which serve food receive food donations. These are often products that are about to expire and are donated by grocery stores just before the expiration date. This might be a very different concept and situation to someone than accepting food from a stranger who actually used their own money to purchase it.

Then, there can also be a level of embarrassment or shame when a person living on the streets accepts help from another person, because it’s as if they are facing the fact that they are in a bad situation and looking at this fact with eyes wide open, head on. They may feel that by accepting food from others, they are somehow admitting that the person giving the food has done better in life and this can make a homeless person feel inadequate, irresponsible, or otherwise shameful about their predicament.

Feelings of Being Insulted
Lastly, there’s always the unfortunate scenario where a homeless person might feel insulted that you are offering them food when they are asking for money, because there are some who simply view food as something they can easily attain at shelters and other things they need money for (alcohol, illegal substances, etc.) are slightly harder to attain.

This is similar to the pride scenario discussed previously, but it’s somewhat more negative of a scenario because they may be angry and misinterpret the reason that you are offering them food.

Some will feel it’s an insult towards their intelligence, meaning that they think you are assuming they are not smart enough to attain the most basic necessities. Others will feel that you are treating them like a child and assuming that if you give them cash , they will be irresponsible with it. They may shun the food out of principle simply for the fact that they don’t want to accept food from someone that they assume thinks poorly of them.

From what I’ve witnessed from being on the streets and living around other homeless people is that this is a rare scenario. While this type of mentality does exist, the majority of homeless people will either graciously accept food that they’re offered or will decline and refuse it for less defensive reasons.