Christopher Mally served in the Air Force, lost two fingers in an attack on his aircraft in Iraq and became addicted to heroin as he tried to manage the pain, eventually getting a dishonorable discharge. That’s how he ended up at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and the West Loop holding a sign asking drivers and other passers-by for money.

Mally, 37, said he nets about $25 a day, but now he faces new competition. Signs went up urging people not to give directly to panhandlers, but rather to donate the money to social service agencies that help the homeless.

“Two weeks after they went up, money just dropped,” Mally said of the anti-panhandling signs. “It’s like somebody saying on that sign, ‘Hey, you don’t get to eat no more.’”

The signs are part of an initiative, called Meaningful Change, launched last year by Mayor Sylvester Turner with the stated goal of supporting the services that help people break the cycle of homelessness. But the signs have sparked a debate on whether the real aim is to merely push panhandlers like Mally from Uptown, the home of the posh Galleria shopping district, and satisfy local businesses fearful of losing affluent customers uncomfortable with confronting poverty.

The Meaningful Change campaign also raises questions about compassion and how best to help the homeless. The Turner administration argues that giving money to panhandlers, many suffering from addiction, helps maintain lifestyles that put them on the street and keeps them there. But other advocates say discouraging people from giving money directly to panhandlers only adds to their suffering.

Tristia Bauman, senior attorney at the National Law Center for Homelessness & Poverty, said panhandlers are often trying to scrape together money for essentials such as soap, medication and public transportation, sometimes to get to a part-time job.

“We don’t think of those needs,” Bauman said. “Anything that makes it harder for somebody to meet those basic needs is likely not going to be a good thing for ending homelessness.”

Signs along the West Loop

The Meaningful Change campaign is part of 25-year effort by the city to curb panhandling. The Houston City Council in 1992 passed an ordinance aimed at stopping aggressive panhandling, prohibiting panhandlers from coming within 8 feet of someone who declines to give them money. The law was subsequently updated to bar panhandlers from coming within eight feet of ATMS, pay telephones, parking meters, mass transit stops and stations, gas pumps and sidewalk cafes. A law passed last year restricts them from impeding a roadway, sidewalk or doorway.

The Galleria neighborhood has long been involved in the efforts to control panhandling. When the City Council approved the initial ordinance, the Houston Post reported that “Galleria-area merchants strongly supported the ordinance, claiming panhandlers were bad for business.”

Uptown Houston is the management district for the area, which has some 400 stores and restaurants and draws more than 30 million visitors a year, according to the Galleria mall. Uptown Houston, funded by a tax assessment on commercial property owners, oversees traffic, public safety, beautification and economic development in the area.

Meaningful Change allows businesses and commercial districts to download for free the graphics and designs needed to make signs that tell people it’s OK to refuse panhandlers. As an alternative, the signs suggest donations to The Way Home, a Houston-area collaborative of nonprofits, government agencies and religious communities that provide a network of services to the homeless.

In summer 2017, Uptown Houston placed 3-by-6-foot signs along the West Loop at the intersections of Westheimer, San Felipe, Post Oak and Richmond. John Breeding, president of Uptown Houston , said the goal was not to drive panhandlers from the area, but rather to inform people that their generosity might have a bigger impact if they give to nonprofits that help the homeless.

“It’s not about moving panhandlers, it’s not about relocating people,” Breeding said. “You don’t attack the individual who needs help, you try to help shape the giver in giving more effectively and giving it to an organization that can make a difference. That’s why we’re involved.”

Michael Lee works at The Arrangement furniture store in the Post Oak Plaza strip mall. He said he supports the Meaningful Change campaign, recalling an incident two years ago. As he stepped into his car parked at the Center at Post Oak strip mall, a man approached him for money. Lee, who wasn’t carrying cash, said no.

The panhandler became irate, said Lee, who closed his car door and drove off, feeling rattled.

“On Post Oak you just don’t assume anything is going to happen,” he said, “which is probably the stupid thing because that’s when you have your guard let down.”

‘Open your heart’

Frank Lueth, director of sales at Zadok Jewelers at Post Oak Plaza, said he saw panhandlers almost daily until the signs went up. Now, he said, he hardly sees any.

As a Muslim, Lueth said, he believes in directly giving money to the poor, including panhandlers. “You’re supposed to open up your heart,” he said.

Still, the 40-year-old Lueth, who has worked in the Galleria area for 16 years, said the Meaningful Change campaign is probably good for business.

“With the Galleria being the number one tourist destination in Houston,” he said, “ it is important to keep a clean image and sort of make people feel comfortable when they’re coming here to spend money.”

The Meaningful Change campaign doesn’t end with a few well-placed signs. The outdoor advertising company, Clear Channel, is donating space on the billboards to carry the messages that it’s better to give to homeless agencies than the homeless. The broadcaster iHeartRadio has provided free airtime for radio ads. Metro provides ad space on buses.

The campaign is even developing an app to make it easier for people to donate to The Way Home.

Mustafa Tameez, an adviser to Meaningful Change, said the campaign doesn’t aim to boost local businesses, but rather to address the root causes of homelessness and get people off the street for good. The campaign promises every dollar donated to The Way Home goes to helping people move into permanent housing, pay rental fees and deposits, and get furniture and other household basics.

“Houstonians are very generous,” Tameez said. “Our individual contributions should be to the larger system fix, rather than one-on-one help.”

Bauman, the senior attorney at the National Law Center for Homelessness & Poverty, is skeptical. Her group has joined with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas to challenge the city’s panhandling law in court, alleging it infringes on the First Amendment right to free speech.

Directing more money to homeless services is a good and worthy cause, Bauman said, but the contention that denying panhandlers money will drive them to seek help is questionable. Panhandlers are not motivated by a desire to continue living on the streets, she said, and making it harder for them to scrape together some money only makes it harder for them to survive.

“This doesn’t sound like a constructive solution to anything except excluding poor people from some rich parts of town,” she said. “The stereotype is, if you don’t see people that make you feel sad or make you feel scared, then you’re going to be more likely to stop at these businesses.”

The kindness of strangers

The hardships of living on the streets are apparent on Mally’s sun-worn face and gaunt frame. At night, he usually sleeps under a freeway bridge and by day holds his cardboard sign appealing for help. Some commuters throw things at him. Others spit on him.

But he is quick to mention he has been afforded kindness by people who have prayed with him, given him hundreds of dollars and discussed possibly hiring him.

Mally said he has nothing against efforts to increase donations to nonprofits that aim to eradicate homelessness over the long term. But that doesn’t help him when he needs a meal to eat or just a bottle of water to drink. Drug-free today, he said he is trying to regain his footing but still needs to survive.

“It’s tough,” he said, sobbing. “People do need to understand that some of us really are trying to make it to wherever we can make it.”

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

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