California has roughly 134,000 homeless people, amounting to one-quarter of the nation’s total homeless population.
In Will $1 Billion Spending on California’s Homeless Fix the Problem?, California Globe covered a myriad of issues surrounding California’s homeless explosion including how tiny houses in Los Angeles haven’t worked out as planned; they became tiny crack houses. The Homeless encampments along the sides of levees in Sacramento are now damaging the flood control structures, and also in the state’s Capitol, the homeless live in parks, in tents along rivers, on the streets and in alleys, and sleep at City Hall at night, after police were chastised for chasing them away.
With Gov. Gavin Newsom proposing in his May Budget Revise $650 million in grants to homelessness agencies and local government to help fund emergency shelters, housing assistance, and new construction, adding up to $1 billion in spending on the homeless in the Golden State, where is the money actually going?
Couple the more than $1 billion in state funding with “LA county and city governments collectively spend an astonishing $1.1 billion annually on the costs of dealing with its growing homeless population,” Craig Powell of Eye on Sacramento wrote in 2017, and many are asking, just where are the billions spent on the homeless actually going?
Sacramento closed the only city-run homeless shelter April 30 after spending $5 million on it. There were just 37 homeless people using it when it closed. The City is expected to open another homeless facility in July, “when the Capitol Park Hotel is set to open downtown with up to 180 beds,” the Sacramento Bee reported. The City will spend more than $23 million to open a 180-bed temporary homeless shelter at the Capitol Park Hotel downtown, where more than 90 elderly and disabled people currently live. They will be ousted.
The City of Sacramento will also spend $11.5 million in state funds and private funds to open a shelter in south Sacramento, and another on a shelter at a Caltrans-owned lot near the corner of X Street and Alhambra. Both of those low-barrier triage shelters will be in tent-like structures with 100 beds each.
One Man’s Story
In a downtown Sacramento neighborhood just south of the city, one group of neighbors formed an unofficial group to be able to communicate about the ongoing crime, theft, drug-related problems and homeless living on their streets. They taught each other how and when to involve the city and police in the homeless issues, when to call for help, when to report crimes, and the like. But they also began to recognize the homeless people living on the streets, and got to know a few.
Several neighbors began to help one fellow who told them he wanted to get clean. Initially they were unable to get him any help from the city or county until he agreed to move into a shelter. But the shelter was full of drug addicts, pedophiles and criminals, and he was trying to stay clean.
Because he was already on Suboxone, treatment of opioid dependence, and trying to rid himself of his drug addiction, many shelters would not take him. They considered Suboxone a drug and told his neighbor-advocates that until he was “off drugs” including the Suboxone, they couldn’t help.
So his neighbor-advocates appealed to the other neighbors in the group to contribute funds to help get him a long term motel room while he sought treatment. But finding help was a nightmare.They quickly found out there is no actual process to connect a homeless person seeking help with the necessary services for someone wanting to get off drugs, and off the streets, despite the millions of dollars being spent. There is not one office to go to for a coordination of benefits.
The Labyrinth of Homeless Programs – who are they helping?
The City of Sacramento has had in place the Emergency Housing and Homeless Resources which is still listed under the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. However, the Sacramento Emergency Housing and Homeless Resources had a name change and currently operates as “Next Move Homeless Services | formerly known as Sacramento Area Emergency Housing and Homeless Resources,” but is now a non-profit, not subject to California’s open records act.
The City touts a program called Sacramento Steps Forward, “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to ending homelessness in our region through collaboration, innovation, and connecting people to services,” the website says.
The neighbor-advocates for the homeless fellow contacted shelters and many city programs, before finally locating a “Navigator” with Sacramento Steps Forward, located inside the Sacramento Library downtown on the third floor. She wasn’t easy to find, and the neighbor-advocates wanted to know why she wasn’t visiting the homeless camps under the freeways instead of hidden away deep inside of the library.
Sacramento Steps Forward has an income of $14 million, $13 million of which is government grants, according to their 2017 IRS Form 990. Since 2013, Sacramento Steps Forward has received $53,438,945.
The Form 990 shows they grant $10,032,858 to other organizations, and spend $1,341,111 on salaries and $220,055 in benefits, $99,087 in office expenses, $86,279 in travel, $22,521 in conferences and $116,972 in occupancy.
They have one full time employee who is paid $150,000 annually, making the travel and conference expenses questionable.
On the Form 990, they say, “Sacramento Steps Forward is responsible for distributing and managing federal funds granted by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. During 2017, the Organization passed-through $10,032,858 in HUD grants to local nonprofit agencies…”
Sacramento Steps Forward is a passthrough, spending about $4 million in administrative costs in the meantime. Salaries, benefits, travel, conferences and offices total nearly $2 million.
Of their programs, the Winter Sanctuary is a seasonal emergency-shelter program for homeless men and women. However, according to their Form 990, this program is primarily funded by the County of Sacramento.
Next Move Homeless Services | formerly known as Sacramento Area Emergency Housing and Homeless Resources, last filed an IRS Form 990 in 2016 showing $5,499,756 in income. The treasurer was reported as making $502,840 in total compensation, and the CFO $208,810, however this income is from “related organizations.” The Executive Director makes $106,462.
A deeper dive finds that Next Move Homeless and Goodwill Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada merged in 2014, so Joesph Mendez is President of Goodwill, which pays him $502,840., and Connie Schulze is Chief Finance Officer at Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada and is paid $208,810. Both are listed on Next Move’s Form 990’s as Treasurer and CFO respectively. They are paid handsomely by Goodwill but work for Next Move, which is just a passthrough for federal funds?
This doesn’t add up. And it is particularly frustrating since despite that these are federal funds being used, they are going to a non-profit organization which is protected from the California Public Records Act. By design.
Goodwill Industries has had its own run-ins with the law, which makes it curious why the City of Sacramento would allow its spin-off to partner with Goodwill.
In 2012, Investigative reporter John Hrabe wrote: Goodwill “accepts millions of dollars in government funds, pays its top executives more than half a million dollars per year in total compensation, while simultaneously paying some of its employees less than the federal minimum wage. Some employees earn just 22 cents per hour.”
Hrabe explained:
“The practice of paying sub-minimum wages is legal thanks to a little-known loophole in federal labor law.”
“It is appalling that organizations that purport to assist workers with disabilities in job training, would hold them back by circumventing the standard of living that minimum wage provides other American workers,” Andy Voss, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network of Sacramento, explained to me via email.
In August, Voss’ group organized a protest of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada, which according to its most recent tax returns, paid its CEO Joseph Mendez $376,317 in total compensation. A dozen people from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network of Sacramento, Capitol People First, South Area People First and the Supported Life Institute took part in the Sacramento protest, which was a part of a nationwide campaign sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind.
As the merger with Next Move and Goodwill Sacramento occurred, Joe Mendez, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada said this: “Goodwill’s mission footprint in Sacramento will be broadened by its relationship with Next Move. Our vocational programs will offer Next Move’s clients opportunities to develop job skills that are portable to other industries. The close mission alignment of our organizations creates a real opportunity to assist Sacramento homeless families move into stable housing situations and employment.”
That was in 2014. Where is the money going?
Meanwhile, Fox News host Tucker Carlson is doing a week long special on homelessness in California. This video features Sacramento.
All photos are screenshots of Carlson’s video of Sacramento homeless, except the featured photo, taken near the author’s neighborhood.
View Comments (34)
No More q-tips!!! Down with q-tips!
Which is to say, why not a photo of this overpuffed ED’s cushy office instead of a staged baiting photo of someone’s overtopped Sharps container who is not a drug abuser based on the actual photo
If you look closely, there's one needle on the other side of the red container, you can see the plunger end and a part of it's shaft.
Great information here about the homeless "non-profit" parasites. Not ALL are, of course, and many do excellent work --- Union Rescue Mission in L.A. comes to mind --- but this article killed two birds with one stone in showing that "non-profit" is usually a misnomer. So many millions of $$$ being taken in and so few services being performed. It speaks volumes that citizens took it upon themselves to help a homeless person they had became acquainted with and got nowhere. What a scandal. And I think we can safely assume that there are doppelgangers of these agencies and non-profits in every city in California. Thank you so much for exposing it.
You are correct that there are some really good non-profits, and they are not attached to local government, even if they receive some govt. grants/funding. Union Gospel Mission is one, and it is wonderful. Another is St. John Center for Real Change for women and their children. They've both been around a while and do fundraising. Union Gospel doesn't take any govt. money.
Hi Katy,
I'd love to have a conversation with you about your article. We are a very transparent organization and I'm sure I can help answer some hanging questions and provide clarity on several topics. Please feel free to reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,
Rachel Wickland
Chief Mission Officer
Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada, Inc.
let me tell you good will and next move homeless servises are a bunch of bull .I was referred and 2 in a half years latter .not to mention my car and all my belongings being burt by another resident that should not of been here .I am currently at auburn oaks when I came here me and my partner it was a homeless servises .we were supposed to get service well that part way happened my boyfriend got fully reimbursed for his losses due to fire and he got help counselor to help with his paper work for housing .I have been tossed aside a payed a lawyer to apply for SSI for I have seizures and I'm 54 and tired .I'm not a problem just ran into bad times during pandemic .so here I am finally got SSI on my own .and next move gives me a three day quit or pay .and a offer if I leave quietly by a date they would pay me $ 1000.00 dallors I swear I have proof .if I did not agree with that then they would go forth with full aviation and ask for over $ 3500.00 dollars and be locked out by police .now I mind you not this is after loosing my trailer that I bout due to being told they could help place me .they managed to help me loose it so here I sit at Auburn oaks and my vehicle and all my belongings catch on fire from another tenent that they did not do back ground check on .after that they cancelled my renters ins .now trying to say they never offered it I was wacko but I have proof and goodwill the benifishary . well they cut it off so iam out vehicles and all my belongings .I had packed cause they said program was ending .now they serve me a three day pay or quit .they want 4000.00 dallors I was soposed to be here on a refferel to get help who are they to decide if half get it and the other half get avected .this is real after 2in a half years I'll be leaving with a evict on my record no vehicle cloths and belongings gone .and a so called next move homeless servises doing this .I hate to think what they have done to others so sad yet no one wants to hear it just complain about peaple being homeless I can't speak for all but I can speak for me you can't win you I try and truly did and I will persue my end to my being homeless they said I have not been homeless they have provided me with shelter for free and it's time I start to pay my own way .this is after my trailer the apt I was to move in that they took my credit check money and after fire arson of my car and belongings and cutting my ins off .they want to kick me to the curb with not one bit of compassion .some bady really should look into this .
Katy, I can’t help noticing that all the homeless "non-profits” we’ve mentioned have a religious component. I’m sure this is why they have been successful. In the case of Union Rescue Mission I know they have transformed people’s lives in addition to helping them in the moment. Lest anyone think that means they are pious or preachy, they are not. They are humble, practical, see reality for what it is, and have common sense and true compassion (as opposed to the conspicuous compassion we see so much). If I somehow found myself on the street with nothing but problems I would find my way there. Homeless aid organizations would be wise to follow their model if they want to help others and achieve positive results.
This article is rife with factual errors. I know the way things work is complex, but pick up a phone before you spread so many falsehoods.
So why don't you explain them here publicly rather than offering empty platitudes, Maya???
exactly! You know a lie when you read one. Thanks for challenging and holding her accountable. After you read my own comment, please feel free to contact me. i'd be honored.
Maya, what are these factual errors? Granted, I haven’t looked at the orgs’ 990s to confirm the info, but I’m sure the journalist knows anyone could do that.
So what do you find incorrect?
https://californiaglobe.com/.../homeless-spending-in-ca.../
990's included in article
Nice comment.Glad you know a liar when you see one. Thanks for holding her accountable and challenging.
This is an open forum, Maya. Please proceed to educate us. You have been awfully quiet for the last nine months!
Nice comment. Glad you know how to think critically, Sir. I can never have enough intelligent friends. After you've read my own comment on this, feel free to get in contact with me. I would be honored.
Girl, Pleeezzee! Don't make me take back my hugs.
This is just icing on the cake of craziness we the people allow to happen day in and day out.
I think if I wasn’t so busy working 3 jobs to pay rent, or having to be a helicopter parent to my kids tenure nightmare of a teacher or spending the only free seconds I have trying to find a doctor that takes new Medi-Cal patients, I would probably say this is a travesty of our governments promise to serve the people.
Let’s just wait until Trump gets elected for a second term, so we can all just jump off a very tall building.
What on earth does this nightmare in California have to do with Trump? Are you blaming him or did I miss something? Far-Left Democrat Rule is the problem here; they make a mess of everything they touch. Haven't you noticed that?
Not sure I follow your reasoning.
Trump....you are really going to blame him? Democrats deserve what they get....so mentally ill....
Really Trump does not Run Calif . Its run by Your eleceted officals City manager etc
Boyo boyo go talk to them take all your hate to them gosh the ignorance runs deep in Calif
Dems are theive your Tax money and you blame Trump
Please read It says Calif Taxs went to the homeless its your states Problem
Nancy pelosi talk to her
Your Free for all Gov letting out criminals
Maybe just maybe you might just understand how
Free voteing rights etc Illegals will take your house
Take your job rape kids get them on dope etc
Still thats NOT Trumps Fault you want to change it Vote Republican in your State ..in your State lady
You have Democrat s now representing you
you are mis informed..all this is activity going on before 2016 and the people ripping off the government monies.. the investigation has been going on since 2012 ,,, Trump and his crew are only exposing it, please read the full articles and research all your info before you type because you are full of crap and don't know your facts or history,, WAKE UP ...
Watch this for an explanation of the homeless scam...
Just a giant money transfer scheme for the most part...
https://youtu.be/ha_SflcmHnU
I am currently going through a similar situation here in San Diego County. Where are the billions of dollars going? I tried contacting SBCS which offers rental assistance programs. At the time I still had my apartment but was told I could not receive any assiatance until I actually became homeless. So I did. Then the story changed to well you need dv or be dependent on drugs because those are the only programs. Take the VISPDAT & sit and wait. Now I'm at Cortez Hill Family Shelter and these case managers have absolutely no idea what programs are available or exactly where to go. I'm absolutely dumbfounded. There are also several new affordable properties that are opening soon and it's impossible to get any information. If you call they tell you, you have to be homeless! I am along with my 3 kids. Then well a housing navigator or specialist must advocate for you. How? How? I'm running in circles going to the same agencies over and over being referred here and there only to be referred back to point A. It's obviously meant to be this difficult. There is ONE problem. Homeless families. You would think there would be ONE point of contact or resource. All the money these rich are accumulating will mean NOTHING in the end. My only goals is to have a stable living situation for my 3 kids while I go to school to get a degree. I already received an MAA certificate with honors. I'm looking forward to getting honors in college when I attend. I have aspirations and do not want to be a leech on the system that feeds crumbs to it's lowly. If this writer of this article could contact me to try and help me & also become a whistle blower on the difficulties that getting into any of these programs please help. Thank you
The Mayor of Sacramento will spend 23 million dollars to create a 180 unit homeless housing downtown Sacramento. That equates to almost $128,000.00 per unit!!! Not only that, he is literally throwing the residents of that hotel onto the streets to become more homeless!! If give the land to any home builder in the Sacramento area, I know they can build very modern units for approximately $125.00-$175.00 a square foot.
Therefore, a 500 SQ ft unit would cost anywhere from $62,500 to $87,000!!!
And the unit can he smaller also!
The game is money, money and more money!!
The Feds give the money to the state, the cities, the counties, non-profits etc and once they get it, they just have to spend it within a time frame or lose it. So they pick a project that will cost what they have, who cares if it really helps anyone, they look good in the news and the feds are happy to help out!!
Noo the Feds are not See the Dems want more
Trump does have a say on Fed money
Its Your Taxs they are putting in their bank accounts yes Grants some are Fed money but some are state Calif Takes your taxs Takes Grants etc And still you dont seem to Undersyand your state is run by a bunch of greedy Dems
Blame everybody but your self
I blame every one In Calif that voted for Demorats
It would take now 10 yrs to get better by then
Illegals will have your Jobs Your Home etc
Because tbey work for less
Illegals and gangs bring in drugs to Calif
If they sell you enough fake news you believe it
You wanted Illegals Well move over rover
Because your taxs are gonna rise Again and again
Because you are paying for them
Youll step in their doo doo
But then again You better watch what you asked for .... Greedy Dems stealing all the homeless money ha ha ha
In Az those lil houses cost only 3 thousand
Add the plumping etc maybe 10 thosand tops
So they are ripping you offf
Calif s gone to dogs Rover
This article just confirms what I have long suspected. I used to contribute to a local organization that helped the homeless, but I saw people's donations going more toward salaries, office space, fund raisers, & advertising, etc.
Homeless money is stolen by politicians!
Everybody knows this. My god!
Use common sense, if you have any. Why in god's name would any politician ever give his money away to a drug addict living on the streets? They would much rather but their own drugs with it! Plus, strippers and lap dances. And, one of those 700-horsepower cars to play in the streets with.
Money meant for homeless people is stolen by politicians long before one penny is ever seen by a real homeless person.
My god, this is common sense. I just assumed that everyone already knew this.
While this article is on the right track, the investigation part was just a google search. None of those people work at Goodwill anymore and haven't for a couple years. Goodwill use to be a proper non-profit but its has changed it mission and just employees crooks and drug dealers. Goodwill in Sacramento takes the cake though. Laws changed and they couldn't pay people under minimum wage so they fired few hundred staff with various disabilities before Christmas, Guy died at a warehouse due lack of Job training, and there was rumors of sexual harassment in upper management.
Bill, cudos, right on point my kindred spirit. Lets talk, I'm the whistle blower regarding that needless fatality. Drivergoudie@gmail.com use subject line "save sacramento"
God bless you Katy!!! Shame on you Ms. Wickland, its no coincidence you are related to the chairman of the board for sac goodwill (you and him are being lied to, please have him contact me directly before it's too late--I've already proven once its catastrophic to ignore my warnings). Goodwill Sacramento is rife with nepotism because previous CEO Mendez was more concerned about Empire Building than about efficient mission focused community service operations. And Maya, shame on you too, you know dam good and well it was generous to limit the number of adverse facts in that story. (I know her, she used to be my coworker when I was there, I've even given her hugs and sang happy birthday to her). Hi, I'm Dave Goudie the government's key witness For Cal-OSHA in their dramatic, record breaking 2017 enforcement action against this so-called self reported "charity". I'm proud to have been a key part of that enforcement action because it will save lives and has exposed the real "Goodwill" as callous hypocrits par excellance who had put executive compensation above employee lives, at least until I helped get them facing possible criminal charges for causing a young father to be needlessly killed. And now a little boy has to grow up without a father because their management refused to act on my repeated warnings about the very hazard that resulted in his needless death!!! It's very telling that I had to knowingly sacrifice my job there in order to save the lives of people I would never know and who would never know the sacrifice that was necessary to keep them safe. To this day, bizzarely they continue to refuse to accept responsibility for this needless death despite the overwhelming irrefutable evidence to the contrary! Just unbelieveable bold-faced liars! And the fact that they are engaging in financial irregularities concerning their parasitic venture into Sacramento's homeless crisis explains a lot about why the crisis just continues to get worse. How despicable, and how foolish of the rest of us taxpayers lying down for this? Personally, I'm far from done with these people, if you can call their current CEO, Richard Abrusci a "person". This is MY hometown and I'm not about to let a punk transplant from the Bay come in here and treat my community and it's residents like dirt. For one thing, I have a multi-million dollar lawsuit that they continually engage in unethical dirty tricks in trying to drag out their day of reckoning as long as possible. So they continue to refuse to accept responsibility for any of their outrageous despicable actions, thus they are doomed to repeat them. If you love Sacramento, I urge you to join me in protecting it from the likes of Abrusci running Goodwill Sac. I need YOU on the team--email me at drivergoudie@gmail.com with Subject Line "Save Sacramento" And Katy, contact me to do more good. Your colleague Marjie Lundstrom has my number or email me.