5 ms·

This explains a lot about the effectiveness of San Francisco's $600M in spending on drug addiction/homelessness, the spend and problem seem to increase together

electriclove 3y ago
Homeless Industrial Complex
- malfist 3y ago
  Please tell me, what companies are involved in the "homeless industrial complex" and what industrial product do they produce?
  - reeboo 3y ago
    https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2024/02/22/city-will-scrap-28-tiny-pods-and-purchase-100-new-units/ https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2024/02/22/city-will-scrap-2...
  - 4RealFreedom 3y ago
    They produce wealth for their executives. The Colorado Coalition For The Homeless received 122M in 2023. In 2021, the CEO made $313K. The top 6 people make over $200K a year. All of this from a non-profit. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/840951575 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/840... https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/colorado-coalition-for-the-homeless-ceo-makes-313k-is-he-worth-it/ https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/colorado-coalition-for...
    - gruez 3y ago
      >The Colorado Coalition For The Homeless received 122M in 2023. In 2021, the CEO made $313K. The top 6 people make over $200K a year. All of this from a non-profit. What's the typical salary for a CEO of a for-profit company that has 122M in revenues? While I can understand why people are outraged at the prospect of people getting money from a non-profit, it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be volunteers. Besides the question of how they'd financially support themselves, you have the problem of "pay peanuts, get monkeys".
      - toomim 3y ago
        You're losing the point. It's not outrage at the amount they are paid. It's outrage at the Shirky Principle-- they are incentivized to keep the homelessness problem going and growing.
    - fragmede 3y ago
      I don't know that high executive salaries are evidence of anything other than theres an executive class which exists, even in the non-profit world. You'll need to come up with better arguments that there's a homeless-industrial complex, which there very much is, but complaining that the leader of a 700-person organized doesn't deserve more than a low end FAANG shows a very naive understanding of how the world works. $313k is cheap for that kind of work. A CEO for a 700-person strong tech company makes well into a million dollars a year, counting equity. Complaining that executives make a lot of money at a non-profit is like complaining that things cost money in the first place. there is a need for someone to do job X. people who do job X cost $xxx/hr. it doesn't matter the context of that job, whether it's running a business, managing armed forces, saving the homeless, or writing a web browser, that's what that job pays. A better argument for there being a homeless-industrial complex would to say there are incentives for organizations to expand operations rather than fix problems, and then give examples where organizations didn't fix problems because it would result in their lowered funding.
      - 4RealFreedom 3y ago
        The question posed was what companies are involved as part of the homeless industrial complex and what do they produce.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        pierat 3y ago
        HN users are superb at "Moving the goalposts approaching infinity". Doubly so if it's a political humanitarian issue (homelessness).
  - nindalf 3y ago
    It goes something like this. Well meaning people join government to solve the problem (homelessness). They can't do it on their own so they allocate money to local charities that run services for homeless, like soup kitchens and shelters. Two things happen 1. if homeless didn't exist anymore, these kitchens and shelters would have to shut down. The volunteers are fine with it, they'll volunteer elsewhere. But the permanent employees would be laid off. Understandably, they want to remain employed. So they're incentivised to not search for a durable solution to the homelessness problem. 2. The people in government realise the problem isn't getting solved, so they leave government and form their own think tanks/charities or institutions to solve the problem. They have connections in government (their former co-workers) which they use to get funding. Now there's another company in the homeless industrial complex.
  - kjkjadksj 3y ago
    Shelter beds for half a million dollars a pop and lucrative service contracts surrounding that pile of money. LA county did an audit and some units they paid north of 830k. https://ktla.com/news/los-angeles-is-spending-up-to-837000-to-house-a-single-homeless-person https://ktla.com/news/los-angeles-is-spending-up-to-837000-t...

electriclove 3y ago

Homeless Industrial Complex

malfist 3y ago
Please tell me, what companies are involved in the "homeless industrial complex" and what industrial product do they produce?
- reeboo 3y ago
  https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2024/02/22/city-will-scrap-28-tiny-pods-and-purchase-100-new-units/ https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2024/02/22/city-will-scrap-2...
- 4RealFreedom 3y ago
  They produce wealth for their executives. The Colorado Coalition For The Homeless received 122M in 2023. In 2021, the CEO made $313K. The top 6 people make over $200K a year. All of this from a non-profit. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/840951575 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/840... https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/colorado-coalition-for-the-homeless-ceo-makes-313k-is-he-worth-it/ https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/colorado-coalition-for...
  - gruez 3y ago
    >The Colorado Coalition For The Homeless received 122M in 2023. In 2021, the CEO made $313K. The top 6 people make over $200K a year. All of this from a non-profit. What's the typical salary for a CEO of a for-profit company that has 122M in revenues? While I can understand why people are outraged at the prospect of people getting money from a non-profit, it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be volunteers. Besides the question of how they'd financially support themselves, you have the problem of "pay peanuts, get monkeys".
    - toomim 3y ago
      You're losing the point. It's not outrage at the amount they are paid. It's outrage at the Shirky Principle-- they are incentivized to keep the homelessness problem going and growing.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    I don't know that high executive salaries are evidence of anything other than theres an executive class which exists, even in the non-profit world. You'll need to come up with better arguments that there's a homeless-industrial complex, which there very much is, but complaining that the leader of a 700-person organized doesn't deserve more than a low end FAANG shows a very naive understanding of how the world works. $313k is cheap for that kind of work. A CEO for a 700-person strong tech company makes well into a million dollars a year, counting equity. Complaining that executives make a lot of money at a non-profit is like complaining that things cost money in the first place. there is a need for someone to do job X. people who do job X cost $xxx/hr. it doesn't matter the context of that job, whether it's running a business, managing armed forces, saving the homeless, or writing a web browser, that's what that job pays. A better argument for there being a homeless-industrial complex would to say there are incentives for organizations to expand operations rather than fix problems, and then give examples where organizations didn't fix problems because it would result in their lowered funding.
    - 4RealFreedom 3y ago
      The question posed was what companies are involved as part of the homeless industrial complex and what do they produce.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - pierat 3y ago
        HN users are superb at "Moving the goalposts approaching infinity". Doubly so if it's a political humanitarian issue (homelessness).
- nindalf 3y ago
  It goes something like this. Well meaning people join government to solve the problem (homelessness). They can't do it on their own so they allocate money to local charities that run services for homeless, like soup kitchens and shelters. Two things happen 1. if homeless didn't exist anymore, these kitchens and shelters would have to shut down. The volunteers are fine with it, they'll volunteer elsewhere. But the permanent employees would be laid off. Understandably, they want to remain employed. So they're incentivised to not search for a durable solution to the homelessness problem. 2. The people in government realise the problem isn't getting solved, so they leave government and form their own think tanks/charities or institutions to solve the problem. They have connections in government (their former co-workers) which they use to get funding. Now there's another company in the homeless industrial complex.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  Shelter beds for half a million dollars a pop and lucrative service contracts surrounding that pile of money. LA county did an audit and some units they paid north of 830k. https://ktla.com/news/los-angeles-is-spending-up-to-837000-to-house-a-single-homeless-person https://ktla.com/news/los-angeles-is-spending-up-to-837000-t...