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BID Programs > Homeless Services > Facts About Panhandling

Facts About Panhandling

Panhandling is a critical concern in Downtown and throughout the city.  Although homeless individuals are not alone in soliciting, panhandling by them is pervasive enough to be disturbing to Downtown visitors, workers and residents.

Soliciting in itself is not illegal. In DC, panhandling on public property is legal, but it cannot be done aggressively, and there are limits to what a person can do. No person, for example, can ask, beg or solicit alms within 10 feet of an automated teller machine (ATM), or on buses or the Metro and at bus, subway or train stops and stations.

Soliciting also is unacceptable in other instances, such as in exchange for cleaning motor vehicle windows while the vehicle is in traffic on a public street and on private property or residential property, without permission from the owner or occupant.

Aggressive panhandling is definitely illegal and considered to be illegal when accompanied by one or more of the following acts:

• Approaching, speaking to or following a person in a way that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily harm or the commission of a crime;
• Touching a person in the course of soliciting without that person’s consent;
• Continuously soliciting from or following a person after the person has made a negative response;
• Intentionally blocking or interfering with the safe passage of a person or a vehicle; and
• Acting with the intent of intimidating another person into giving money or another thing of value.

The Downtown SAMs are trained to monitor the behavior of homeless individuals and their effect on others.  They can provide assistance when aggressive panhandling becomes a problem. The Downtown SAMs will attempt to link the homeless person to the appropriate service provider, engage him in conversation to identify his or her specific needs and hand out a Street Information Card with locations and types of services available to homeless residents in DC.  Pedestrians also can call the Downtown BID’s dispatch unit at 202.624.1550.

The Downtown BID discourages people from giving homeless individuals money. Money received from strangers or “regular contributors” can help feed drug or alcohol addictions.