Officials in San Francisco hope a new effort to use 10 old parking meters to collect spare change will help the city’s homeless population and cut down on panhandling, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead of giving directly to panhandlers, the money will be given to charities that help the homeless, the newspaper reports. Other cities, such as Denver and Baltimore, have used this method — which does not necessarily raise a lot of money for charity — as a way to cut down on panhandling.

At least one charity official, Sister Bernie Galvin, executive director of Religious Witness With Homeless People, panned the plan, calling it “utterly ridiculous.” She said it was based on a stereotype that all panhandlers use every nickel and dime to buy drugs and alcohol.

“Forget the children, forget the mothers who are struggling to raise their family homeless or in inadequate housing,” she said. “Will the city never give up on trying to find ways to make the lives of homeless people harder?”

Another San Francisco Chronicle article reports on results in other cities with similar programs.