Cities keep throwing money at the homeless problem and it keeps getting worse.

The Denver area has seen homelessness grow faster than any other metro region in the country. This despite the fact that it’s spent at least $274 million over the last five years trying to keep people off the streets.

But a county just down the road from Denver has tried a different approach and gotten better results.

Douglas County (population 392,000) has put up 70 signs at intersections and roadways that say “Handouts Don’t Help.” Each sign directs citizens to DouglasHasHeart.org, where they can redirect their donations to the Douglas County Community Foundation.

Abe Layton, a Douglas County Commissioner, says the message allows people to give with confidence it will be put to good use:

It seems like the more you give at those particular corners, the more people it attracts. It  feels bad when you drive by and don’t do something – but the flip side is …maybe it’s going to food, maybe it’s going to drugs – you don’t know where the money is going.

Between 2022 and 2024, Douglas County saw a steep drop-off in people living on its streets, from 43  to just six.  Those housed in shelters fell from 96 to 69.  The homeless are approached and offered help ranging from hotel vouchers, help finding a job to a bus ticket back to family members who will care for them.

But homeless advocates say the Douglas approach is cruel. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless says ‘it’s hard to believe that being unwelcoming to people experiencing homelessness is a true solution to the problem.”

But the real cruelty is Denver’s strategy of allowing the homeless to fill streets with tent encampments.  Denver is now offering its 10,000 plus homeless  space in shelters but the occupants of the encampments have issued a list of 13 demands the city must fulfill before they consider moving.

A little tough love is the best way to help this growing homeless population. Free stuff with no conditions attached only worsens and institutionalizes the problem.