Would you hire one?  I have work that needs to get done around my house like staining a deck and I would be willing to pay someone $8/hour so I don't have to do it.  However, I find it too risky to even offer that to the homeless.  I have no idea if the person is someone who hit hard luck or someone that chose to drop out of society and is a potential danger to me and my family. Realistically, there are likely some of the homeless that would be willing to do day labor and could get their lives back together, but it is not worth the risk to find out which ones, so we choose to not hire any of them.