Developer bungles Newsom’s affordable housing program
Unhoused Texans weather another
winter storm with little aid
Storm of the Century, Preparation Failure, Death was the Result
California’s Shangri-La ain’t no idyllic picture of perfection as it was Conceived to be
The state government with poor leadership hallmarks tries yet again to solve the unsolvable and fails. It is not that homelessness cannot be solved, but it is that with socialism in the lead it cannot be.
Introduction
Let me introduce the insanity of Governor Newsome’s plan. He was to take unused hotel and motel rooms and convert them into housing for the homeless. No insanity yet. However, the government did not vet the companies who secured and received the contracts for the work. They were not monitored, nor checked in on and fraud and financial abuse ran rampant.
Insanity now has entered in. From an idea to a thought into a concept straight to failure. That is the Homekey Program, another brainchild of the wild state of California and its socialism and failed attempts to end homelessness
Let’s look at His word as we start today
Proverbs 10: 9
He who walks in integrity and with moral character walks securely, but he who takes a crooked way will be discovered and punished
Deuteronomy 15: 11
For the poor will never cease to be in the land, therefore I command you saying, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in the land.”
Zechariah: 16 to 17
These are the things that you should do, speak the truth with one another, judge with truth, and pronounced the judgement that brings peace in (the courts at) your gates. And let none of your devise or even imagine evil in your hearts against another, and do not love lying or half-truths, for all these things I hate declares the Lord
What say you…
Failure, wasted money, lost opportunity, homeless matter mishandled again, what else can we expect from the puppet government
Hotel rooms are being taken from the market, what is California expecting, no more tourist business, have they completely surrendered their future to the homeless…
The Irony of Program Failure
So, yet another wild child attempts to impact homelessness without addressing the root cause. Taking from the business community and giving to the Homeless Industrial Complex, makes a lot of sense, right? In other words, remove underperforming hotel and motel rooms from the market and transform them into studio apartments for the homeless. But here is a question for you to ponder, what is the need for conversion, a hotel room versus a studio apartment, nearly the same, right?
Any business that conducts business without following certain rules of business knows that they will not last for very long. But California hired and funded a company for this work without vetting them and without checking into their business books. Yes, that is what the article tells us, and the train wreck of failed hotel conversations proves it. How do you hire a company for a multi-million job without proper vetting?
Now the homeless have failed, have made mistakes and missteps and often are told they no longer have right and privileges because of the,. But this company was never told that, one a well off illegally operating company willfully skirting the regulations and the other humans in tough situations, do you, can you see the difference? Why only the homeless to be accountable and totoe the line?
Brokenness Cannot Fix Brokenness
A new phrase that is being used to describe all businesses, both for-profit and non-profit organizations, related to homelessness and attempted care and solutions is the Homeless Industrial Complex. It is not a positive term, it speaks of all who receive millions of dollars each year and yet produce no lating solutions. This is where Broken can’t fix Broken comes from, a government that is bent on destroying the state, in general, cannot properly think about ending homelessness. What do I mean by being bent on destroying, bring socialism into the government.
The converting of hotels to studio apartments and saying that this will be a path forward without a solid plan is like holding out a rotten carrot in front of a hungry herd of horses, dangerous. In every walk of life from personal to faith to business, without a proper and solid foundation, all plans will fail as we see with the Homekey Program. Millions of dollars were thrown away, if someone outside of the broken system had been given that money, what may have been accomplished?
Dashed Hopes and Dreams Through Financial Fraud
Ponzi Scheme, Tax paperwork withheld, Bank fraud, falsified loans, Shangri-La Construction and Property Management was a very poor choice for this program. Financial rabbit trials are complex but try this and see how we do. Thousand Oaks CA, a 78-room hotel was to be transformed. Shangri-La received $26.7 Million for the project. To cover purchase, renovation, and some operating costs according to the City Manager.
Now Shangri-La has $26.7 million in their pocket for the work, but instead of focusing on the work, they turn and illegally take out more than $10 million from private lenders. No red flags were noted on the city or state level. The $10 million was not for the Thousand Oaks project, which has not defaulted. So the city and state are on the hook for $26.7 and $10.0 million with no hotel rooms. In Monterey County, they did the same thing. Received a $12.2 million grant for a 45-room hotel conversation. Then immediately took a $4.3 million loan out, a violation of HomeKey rules. The project is not complete.
Now here is the part no one is saying out loud, the human cost involved in the latest failure of the Governor of California. The homeless, who thought and may have even been told that a roof over their heads was coming to them, but no it was never to happen. Can you imagine jumping through the hoops and doing all that was required to even be considered and then telling them, oops, sorry, no housing, we messed up? That is like your parents telling you that you are going to Disney World, and the park is going to be yours all to yourself and then the morning of departure they, oops, sorry, just joking. A little drastic, but unless you have been on the streets, drastic is needed. Bad behavior Governor.
What is Step Up’s Role, Good or Bad
Step Up was a pioneering Non-Profit housing and wrap-around service provider in Southern California. They were making a real difference and were being looked at as a potential national player in reducing if not ending homelessness. However just like with a thoroughbred horse who quits eating top-shelf hay and grain sputters out and starts to slip, they did as well when they lost focus.
When HomeKey came into existence Step Up was right there, fully politically connected, helping the governor of California bring the hair-brained idea to life in exchange for ‘future profits.” A Non-profit can make money, but the source of that money must be carefully vetted, and this money was dirty. The three-fold cord that came forth was Shangri-La, the state of California and Step Up all under the guise of helping the homeless. Loss of focus is dangerous to a Non-profit, they were already blazing trails of great note and then they de0railed, for what, money?
They are now mired in lawsuits, and struggling to regain their footing and no one is sure of their long-term outcome, the homeless lose yet again.
Shining Light on Homeless What Lessons Can and Must Be Learned
The greatest lesson to seize is that of hypocrisy. Every state in the union demands and expects the homeless to be respected and, in a place where they can take total and complete responsibility for themselves. However, in California, we have a living and breathing example that the state cannot follow the demands that it places on the homeless. How are we to understand this oxymoron?
The homeless may receive anywhere from $100.00 to $800.00 monthly in various benefits and are expected to live independently and off the streets and fully accountable with that money. We all know that with that tiny income, nobody can live off the streets, just reality. They are more accountable with their tiny income than a state with millions thrown away on a program designed to fail from the start. Meditate on that.
The old-time carrot and stick metaphor, the homeless are well used to this one, they get the stick very often. The state of California tried the trick trap with the carrot, and it failed. They used the carrot and stick with the company Shangri-La, and they turned it around and beat the state silly with it. Everybody lost, the homeless, the hotel owners, the state, and the Homeless Industrial Complex. A lesson to be learned, honest dealings are better than the carrot and stick any day, truth, and mercy, and compassion always win the day.
Conclusion
California is the absolute wild child of the homeless crisis and of introducing socialism and the socialism experiment into all things, homeless and failing at most. He decided that taking hotel rooms off the market, thus decreasing the earning potential of the owners was a good idea. Then deciding that a hotel room needed converting, really?
Then as with most government agencies, too many to keep track of what is really going on, a fraudulent company snuck in and stole the contracts. They took the property, the contracts, and ideas and committed fraud and were not jailed. The homeless got no homes, and the state got defrauded.
Finally, I believe that the greatest payback to the state of California is this, they have demanded that the homeless stand up and be accountable for everything and they, the State, have failed miserably in being accountable.
CTA…
Answer this,
You are the father or mother of a family of 4 and you know your income and you are sur of the money spent, that is a requirement for the family, but how does a state know this…
The state and local governments demand that the homeless, who get on average less than $600.00 per month to be totally accountable for that, but again, not the state, what is up with that…
How did this fraudulent company get the contracts and then steal millions more and leave those in serious without the promised answer and no repercussions have been exacted upon the company, how….
