Nowadays if you're too proud to ask for a handout, they've made it so that you can't also be too proud to wear a mask or get a vaccine and keep your job. One way or the other, people are forced into doing what they are told these days, or ending up with no home.
You can only be too proud to ask for a handout when it's still an option among other options. When you're backed in a corner, there's not much you can face head on, even if you're the kind of person that would still try anyway.