- Feb 20, 2007
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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?
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?