So I know how to make three Hommlet residents become beggars (and I thought I knew how to avoid doing so), but sometimes Otello will become a beggar wihtout my even talking to him. I think this only happens when I have Ydey as a follower. It does not trigger the "Beggar Maker" reputation, but at some point Otello is outside the Welcome Wench and talking to him then will give the beggar conversation thread. Weird! In addition, sometimes Hommlet NPC's greet my characters with "Brother can you spare a drink?", even though I have not made anyone a beggar.
I've had this happen to me almost every time with the Leatherworker, Jak Borten. You can ask him something about joining the Cuthies, and he bemoans his high dues. I guess the idea was the church (to finance the castle) is kinda bleeding the people dry, but since you didn't force Jak to convert or to pay his dues, you won't get a bad rep for it. So for him anyway, I don't think this was a bug. Who else have you seen this for?