Reaching for change: Social assistance not enough to survive, say local panhandlers
They are a familiar fixture at our city's busiest intersections — panhandlers. They often carry signs asking for a good deed, money or food and sometimes offering a clever joke.
You see them on the same corner, time and time again. You either scrape up the loose change in your cup holder, avert your eyes, or, simply mouth the word "sorry" as they pass by your vehicle window.
When it comes to actually tracking who they are and how long they have been panhandling, it's not that simple because there is no social service agency or government entity that tracks panhandlers.
They are not necessarily homeless and not included specifically in a homeless census, such as Winnipeg Street Census, nor are they tracked by the Biz Groups in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg police do not keep tabs on who panhandlers are, if they are repeat offenders when it comes to bylaw infractions, or how many tickets they might hand out in any given year to panhandlers. The courts don't even specifically track if these tickets are ever paid.
Panhandlers are a part of our population but never get counted. So when we see the same faces, at the same intersections, at the same time of day, season after season. How do we know who these people really are? Do we want to?
Three of them shared their stories with us.
Brian Minchin
A tattered cardboard sign is held humbly. He paces back and forth through the string of cars. His voice is worn, yet calls out to each passing driver with a friendly "hi", dragging out the "i". A few hands reach from inside warm vehicles to offer meagre handfuls of loose change.
Minchin, 50, has been panhandling for the past decade. He is a familiar fixture at that corner. He's out three to four days per week working the afternoon drive home. He makes about $40 to $50 dollars each time. Minchin makes enough money to buy food, a pack of smokes and maybe a Sports Select or two.
Minchin is on social assistance. He hasn't worked a steady job in years. His rent, in a core area rooming house, is covered by social assistance. He gets $125 every two weeks to pay for everything else.
This is the only way to survive. You can't survive on what social services gives you.- Brian Minchin
"This is the only way to survive. You can't survive on what social services gives you," said Minchin.
Minchin has depression and an array of other health problems. He feels he won't be able to get a job because of his criminal record. "Who's going to hire a bank robber?," said Minchin.
In 2008 his son, Michael Langan, died after being shocked by a police stun gun. He was just 17 years old. Shortly after his death, Minchin robbed a bank.
"I wanted to pay for a head stone, I had no money, no way of paying," Minchin says of the crime.
He spent eight months in jail, long enough to save up his disability cheques to help pay for a gravestone.
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Christopher Wings
It's 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon. Christopher Wings' feet shuffle through the gravel along the boulevard as he makes his way down the line of traffic. He works the corner at Stradbrook Avenue and Main Street, or one nearby, nearly everyday. He has been panning for 11 years.
Wings, 30, has a high school diploma and a carpenters' ticket, but says he's never been able to find work that would pay him what he makes panhandling. He lives on social assistance and in subsidized housing.
Earning roughly $15 an hour, and keeping his own hours, Wings is able to get by. He earns enough for food, cigarettes, supplies for his cat and even saves money to buy Christmas presents. Wings owns a gaming system and has cable and a cell phone. All of which would not be possible if he didn't panhandle to make extra money.
Wings doesn't often drink alcohol, though he admits to smoking marijuana daily. He says most who panhandle in this city aren't homeless. "Usually they're all people who have homes and they just want to get drunk that day or high that day. Depends what their habits are," he says.
Wings says he can get whatever he asks for on his sign, from food, to smokes, to prescription drugs. He says he has never felt unsafe and has only had a few problems with other panhandlers. He says the biggest problem he faces is the attention from the Winnipeg Police Cadets. "They're jealous that I make more in an hour than they do," says Wings.
They're jealous that I make more in an hour than they do.- Christopher Wings
"They just flash their lights, or they take your sign, or they'll give you a ticket," says Wings, who admits he has received about a dozen tickets but has only paid for two.
"Usually everybody who gets tickets on this corner, they don't pay them" he says.
Mike
It's nearly 11 am. It's cold and has rained the night before. Mike's wheelchair is sinking into the mud at the corner of Broadway Avenue and Maryland Street. He's come all the way from the St. James area by bus to panhandle at this corner.
His sign reads "SPARE CHANGE. ANYTHING HELP" He laughs as he says he ran out of room for the "S". He sits patiently, pulling his hoodie up over his ears and waits for cars.
He can't manoeuvre around the cars or leave the curb so he relies on the small number of cars lining up to make a left turn onto Broadway. He wheels up and down the muddy patch of grass to collect the small offerings from waiting cars.
Mike has been using a wheelchair to get around for two years. He can walk when he needs to, but it causes him a lot of pain and his leg often buckles beneath him. His leg was badly broken when he was hit by a car not far from where he is panhandling today. Mike was hit while trying to retrieve cash from a stopped vehicle.
Mike, who didn't want to give his last name, lives on social assistance because of his disability. He is 26 years old and admits that he has been panhandling since he was 16.
"I was homeless. I had no money. No food. I was living on the streets. I was in CFS care at the time and I was a runaway," he says.
Mike sees panning as a way to get by. He says while it's different from the average 9 to 5, he still sees it as a job, and a way to survive. "Being in a wheelchair and trying to find a place to work isn't that easy," he says.
If you see someone out here, don't assume that we're all drug addicted losers.- Mike
Mike says finding wheelchair accessible housing is also a challenge for someone on social assistance. He lives in a group home and his rent is paid for by the government.
He gets $242 a month from social assistance for personal spending money. From this, he has to pay for his own food, clothing and transportation. He also buys cigarettes and food for his cat.
"If you see someone out here, don't assume that we're all drug addicted losers. I don't want to be out here. It's not like I wake up in the morning [and think] I want to go panhandle today. No it's not like that. You've got to do what you've got to do to survive," he says.