Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer.
After diving deep into various data from five counties, the Bay Area News Group concluded that Project Homekey, which converts unused hotels, motels and vacant apartment buildings into shelter for the homeless, isn’t getting the job done. Like so many other taxpayer-funded programs, it lacks oversight, the facilities are dirty and run down, resources for the mentally ill and the addicted are too often not available, crime is never far away, and funding is limited.
Latest figures show what we’ve known all along: Project Homekey is a waste of taxpayer dollars
Kerry Jackson
Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer.
After diving deep into various data from five counties, the Bay Area News Group concluded that Project Homekey, which converts unused hotels, motels and vacant apartment buildings into shelter for the homeless, isn’t getting the job done. Like so many other taxpayer-funded programs, it lacks oversight, the facilities are dirty and run down, resources for the mentally ill and the addicted are too often not available, crime is never far away, and funding is limited.
Again, not to discount the work of others, but our findings nearly 18 months ago showed that Project Homekey was not bound for greatness but instead something far less than that.
Click to read the full article in Bakersfield Californian.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.