Doing well by doing good

[tadoflamb]

Back when I was active in my parish's St. Vincent de Paul conference we became aware of a phenomena going on in our area Individuals, many times protestant pastors, would purchase a large multi-bedroom home in a distressed neighborhood and then turn it into a halfway house for men and women coming out of prison. The rules changed from house to house, but generally b rent ran about 90-100 dollars a week to share a bedroom with three to four other individuals. Residents were also expected to turn in their food stamps and all or some of any welfare they were receiving or share a percentage of the earnings of any job they happened to find.

Often times, to get past the first week the residents would come to us to pay their rent. At first we would do it cheerfully but then we started thinking about these organizations business model. By purchasing large houses in distressed neighborhoods the buyers probably got a great deal. The market was severely depressed back then. By then renting out an average of 4 beds per bedroom for a 4 bedroom house at 90 dollars a week, the landlord stands to take in at least $5760 dollars a month to pay for their mortgage and utilities.

I had to hand to them. It sounded like a great way to make a buck, amass real estate while still having the appearance of running a charity.

In the end, we decided that every business will have built into their business model some capacity for failure and so we thought we shouldn't be the safety net for these businesses. Like ourselves, if they were going to go into charity, they were going to have to survive on their own merits. We decided we weren't going to pay rents for these types of organizations.

This practice came to head in the largest charity serving the homeless community here in Tucson. They're out of business now thanks to some fishy practices not the least of which was charging rents on properties owned by the director's husband for short term housing for the homeless and then having their accountants declare these payments as donations on their taxes.

Who would have thought that a Christian could do so well by doing good?

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

so we thought we shouldn't be the safety net for these businesses.

Absolutely. Fair enough.

Often times, to get past the first week the residents would come to us to pay their rent.

Do you think the residents had legitimate cause to ask for money for rent? If they cant afford rent, they shouldn't be asked to pay it, in the first place?

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

duplicate post

 

[holycajun]

Fact: those panhandlers were probably lying.

Fact: the nonprofits who run the charities often partner with churches in such a way that practices are not easily supervised

Fact: there was nothing wrong with my post pointing out that the homeless ahelter industry is often part of a real estate grabbing system that uses church charities as a way of grabbing properties out of the rental market by making it hard for landlords to keep family rentals in neighborhoods with those halfway houses. Private owners of duplexes are forced to sell cheap and the properties get flipped into the private homeowner market.

Why delete the post instead of just saying I'm wrong?

 

[Fish and Bread]

Fact: those panhandlers were probably lying.

That sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

I think the desperate poor get taken advantage of a lot more than is commonly thought. They're desperate and relatively powerless, so abusive people are drawn to them, and then when the abuse starts, they are abused a second time by a society that doesn't believe them because they don't seem "respectable".

I think some of the root causes of the Catholic sexual abuse crisis and the Protestant pastor halfway house thing are the same- people taking advantage of other people who can't fight back and are unlikely to be believed if they speak out. Who are you going to believe- the priest or the "troubled" child? Who are you going to believe- the pastor or the near-homeless ex-con? The priest is just trying to mentor the troubled child, some say, the pastor is just trying to help the near-homeless ex-con reassimilate into society, others say.

I make no judgements in individual cases here, but I tend to in a generalized sense believe the people without the power in these situations, because of human nature.

This is a broader problem in society- the police and the courts are more likely to side with the landowner than the non-landowner, the rich than the middle class, the middle class than the poor, the white man than the black man, the naturalized citizen than the migrant, the man than the woman (Except in child custody cases), the "respectable citizen" than the recluse, etc..

A lot of judgements come from prejudicial assumptions that are often made subconciously.

That doesn't mean that no minorities or poor people try to play cons or that majorities and rich people always do. It just means that some people are more likely to get away with it than others- and its not the people you think. We have I think this idea hidden in our culture somewhere where we think the world is a meritocracy and that somehow the people who do better in life usually do so out of merit and those who do worse usually do worse because they have greater moral failings than the norm, and that's simply not true, in my opinion.

Only those with power can be corrupted by it.

 

[Fish and Bread]

Double post.

 

[holycajun]

Not opinion, fact. I've worked in and fundraised for shelters after having had to use those services, myself. I've dealt with city hall and neighborhood politics as well as inter-agency rivalries. I've seen all sides.

The churches often appeal on behalf of genuine hardship only to be manipulated by political interests who want to avoid the problem while exploiting the good reputation. Neither the honest poor nor the working-class neighbors have much to say about it.

Once a few street people (who are not the poor homeless but who choose their life) get wind of ANY neighbors of such a shelter being generous, they show up on that street. Even if they have been barred from the shelter for bad behavior, they claim to be residents of it. Those who abide by the rules are not visible to neighbors because they are getting jobs and spending time in the activities of an honest life.

The best thing to do is talk to the shelter operators and get a good idea of their policies. They cannot enforce their rules on the street. Neighbors can have strong no-trespass enforcement that will enable police to discourage impostors from taking advantage of the appearance of a shelter in a neighborhood. You might have to have a sit-down with the County and your city rep to get the right kind of enforcement in play.

The wrong kind of enforcement too often happens. First, church people call the critics uncharitable liars and next the police treat all pedestrians as homeless while the neighborhood groups get the city to zone against all affordable rental property and then the corrupt piliticians and real estate agents laugh all the way to the bank.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Not opinion, fact. I've worked in and fundraised for shelters after having had to use those services, myself. I've dealt with city hall and neighborhood politics as well as inter-agency rivalries. I've seen all sides.

I respect people who have been at the coal-face. Their opinion is usually clear and neither slave to political correctness nor putting the boot in to "lazy homeless."
I have some experience with mentally ill and homeless shelters. One thing struck me that the idealistic do gooders soon modified their views on helping the poor. Started off zealous and ended up disillusioned. Some were fresh out of University and College having finished psychology degrees. They discovered that homeless people tend not to shower so often gave off an overpowering odor. They didn't always appreciate the help they were given. Psychotic people refusing medication. Coming home drunk and abusive. Several quit after 1, 2 and 3 months. I managed to stay for 4 years, remarkably.

 

[holycajun]

There are, indeed, many innocent people caught in the gears of the system who land there because of any number of circumstances and they soon find that social prejudice is their biggest obstacle to recovery. The fact that the prejudice is rooted in experience with what I call "professional victims" doesn't make it any easier.

 

[tadoflamb]

Absolutely. Fair enough.

Do you think the residents had legitimate cause to ask for money for rent? If they cant afford rent, they shouldn't be asked to pay it, in the first place?

Since the women at one halfway house were coming out of prison, I doubt they had a lot of resources.

The shame of it was, from the outside, it appeared that this is exactly where we wanted to be. It's just that after we saw a pattern developing and we looked a little deeper into these organizations, we figured out that this was just another cottage industry set up to take advantage of the poor.

 

[tadoflamb]

Fact: those panhandlers were probably lying.

Fact: the nonprofits who run the charities often partner with churches in such a way that practices are not easily supervised

Fact: there was nothing wrong with my post pointing out that the homeless ahelter industry is often part of a real estate grabbing system that uses church charities as a way of grabbing properties out of the rental market by making it hard for landlords to keep family rentals in neighborhoods with those halfway houses. Private owners of duplexes are forced to sell cheap and the properties get flipped into the private homeowner market.

Why delete the post instead of just saying I'm wrong?

In my parish's St.VdeP conference we didn't work with panhandlers but made visits to the poor who lived within our parish's boundaries. It was my experience and my impression that the large majority of the people we served had a legitimate need.

The nice thing about serving with St.VdeP is that we worked autonomously and were funded only by ourselves and our fellow parishioners. I know the non-Catholic ecclesial assemblies around us worked with larger charitable organizations like United Way, but I never cared for some of their practices. It was nice being part of an organization that was thoroughly Catholic and independent.

Thanks for sharing your insights. It's interesting to know that others have caught on to this ruse of doing well by doing good.

 

[Willie T]

If you guys really care, and are not just complaining about how others do things you are not willing to attempt, I would suggest you look into an organization called FAMILY PROMISE. (Unless, of course, you object to people being paid salaries to run these places, full time.)

http://familypromise.org/

 

[holycajun]

The practice of visiting the poor instead of some of the other forms of street ministry can protect your service from hustlers and it seems more in keeping with true charity.

 

[tadoflamb]

If you guys really care, and are not just complaining about how others do things you are not willing to attempt, I would suggest you look into an organization called FAMILY PROMISE. (Unless, of course, you object to people being paid salaries to run these places, full time.)

http://familypromise.org/

Of course I care. That's why I'm a Vincentian and that's why I'm bothered when I see protestant 'ministries' that enrich themselves under the guise of helping the poor.

But, I have to admit, that's a pretty slick maneuver using a Catholic forum to prop up a non-Catholic charity.

If any of the Catholics reading are looking for a charity to volunteer for I would highly recommend you look no further than your parish's St. Vincent de Paul conference. Outside of that, at least in my community, there is no shortage of Catholic charities one could volunteer with. I've already started threads on some of them.

There's really no need to compromise one's faith by volunteering outside the Church.

Here's a link to the USA (we're an international charity) St.VdeP website.

SVDP USA | Providing Assistance to Those in Need for Over 150 Years > Home

(edited to add) I checked out the Family Values website. From a tertiary look it's hard to discern if this is a Christian charity. And since they don't work independently it would be hard for me to volunteer with such a group without compromising my Catholic values. I would much rather spend my time, talent and treasure to a thoroughly Catholic/Christian charity.

 

[tadoflamb]

The practice of visiting the poor instead of some of the other forms of street ministry can protect your service from hustlers and it seems more in keeping with true charity.

The home visit is at the core of the Vincentian charity. Like our founder Bl. Frederic Ozanam and our namesake, St. Vincent de Paul, we see Christ in the poor. Since Christ is our master, it only makes sense that the servant should go to Him.

Worrying about hustlers isn't really part of the Vincentian mindset. Like I said, most of the people I encountered had a legitimate need. Every now and then we had our suspicions, but since we met together regularly for prayer and fellowship and since most of us live in the parish, it was pretty hard to take advantage of us. God had His ways of letting us know what was going on.

 

[tadoflamb]

If you guys really care, and are not just complaining about how others do things you are not willing to attempt, I would suggest you look into an organization called FAMILY PROMISE. (Unless, of course, you object to people being paid salaries to run these places, full time.)

http://familypromise.org/

I feel kinda bad calling out Family Promise, it looks like they do some good work and if they were in my community it would have been nice to use them as a resource and to see what they do well.

On the other hand, I pulled this off of their Corporate Partners page.

Motel 6 provides hospitality at reduced costs to Affiliates, a valuable service for Affiliates who may need at times to provide motel stays for guest families. Motel 6 has also provided discounts for all Family Promise volunteers, showing its commitment to all of Family Promise’s constituents.

Wouldn't this be another example of doing well by doing good? Last Christmas I thought it odd that businesses would dangle a potential donation to a charity as an incentive to patronize their operation.

It just seems strange to me.

At any rate, the times I did have to put someone up in a motel, St.VdeP received a nice discount are we compelled to give them a plug on our website.

I guess that's the benefit of Catholic charity, we're big enough that we don't have to fool around with corporate sponsors.

 

[Fantine]

It's written into the tax code as well. You can buy a stock at $20 a share, and if it does well, see its value climb to $40 a share in 5 years. If you donate it to a charity, you will get a $40 per share deduction and will never be responsible for the capital gains taxes on the stock (on a $20 capital gain, your taxes might be $3 a share federal and perhaps $1.50 state). And so, for a net cost of $15.50 a share to yourself, you are giving a charity $40 a share. Of course, if a stock really takes off, you can actually get a bigger tax deduction than your initial outlay.

I remember when our parish built a Catholic school (we had to move before it was built). We had a neighbor who got great stock options who donated $75,000 to the campaign. They were well off, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around $75,000....

But I guess having the option to buy something at a low price that has already appreciated significantly AND get massive tax deductions made it possible for them to do it at a fraction of the cost.

There are also people in our town who donate older, distressed properties that they are unable to sell to charities. I wrote an article once about a retired dentist who donated his office building to a pregnancy help center. It was supposed to be a heartwarming tribute to his generosity, but they told me that they couldn't sell the building and had to continue paying taxes and upkeep on the property. Their tax advisor advised them to give it to a charity--in the 40 or so years he had used it for his dental business, it had probably appreciated enough so that he "made" money from the tax deductions.

Yes, it was good....but what kind of story does it make when you want to write about kindness and generosity and the donors start talking tax breaks to you?