Brother, Can You Spare a Voucher?

By Wendy Cole/New York

On Christmas morning a nearly frozen John Steward crawled out from the cardboard box across the street from Columbia University. He has lived there for two years, but because it's not a valid address, he can't collect welfare. The lone nickel inside his coat pocket would hardly get him breakfast. But Steward wasn't worried. While he was panhandling for spare change the day before on upper Broadway in Manhattan, someone handed him a booklet of vouchers good for a dollar's worth of food at any of seven local stores. Trading them in for a bagel and coffee at a nearby deli, Steward lauded the new program: "People who won't give us money because they think we'll buy drugs and alcohol are more likely to help out now."

That is exactly the goal of the New York City merchants and community activists who set up the program in December. "This is about improving the quality of life for everyone in the neighborhood. We hope it encourages people who have stopped giving out of a legitimate concern for where their money is going to start giving again," said Laura Friedman, co-coordinator of West Side Cares, the volunteer group running the program. The coupons, which sell for their face value of 25 cents, cannot be used to buy alcohol or tobacco or be exchanged for cash.

While the program has won some praise in New York, similar initiatives in a dozen other cities, including Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco, have received mixed reviews. In Berkeley, California, 70% of the 250,000 vouchers bought by residents over the past two years have been redeemed, while only 15% of the 8,000 vouchers purchased in Portland, Oregon, have been used. "They don't address any significant long-term needs of the recipients, and there is no way of knowing, in the short-term, if people actually consume less alcohol or fewer drugs," says Jim Baumohl, a professor of social work at Bryn Mawr College. "The energy that goes into these programs distracts us from developing meaningful policies to deal with poverty and homelessness."

Meanwhile, panhandlers who prefer real money can simply increase begging in neighborhoods without vouchers. Steward, however, is standing pat. He has no intention of leaving his coveted spot atop a steam grate and appreciates the $5 worth of vouchers he has received so far. "But to tell you the truth," he adds sheepishly, "I'd rather have the cash."