Originally Posted by
jackri
http:///forum/post/3277905
I'm just curious how the concept would work (the helping someone out vs. enabling someone side of me is curious).
I do like the idea of people helping people rather than the gov't stealing it from one group of people and handing it out however they want.
Well, not sure about SoCal, but we had discussed implementing a program specifically for people who have fallen on hard times. Pretty much everyone who has had a forclosure or a reposession of some kind will not be able to get accepted for a m-o-r-t-g-a-g-e anytime soon, so "buying" a home isn't an option. We had discussed building an apartment complex and renting out the rooms to people who would otherwise be homeless. Rental payments would be negotiable, but because it's a non-profit, we can't really charge them anything that would mean profit for us.
I'm not saying that we'd look for people on the streets or anything... but we would look for hard working parents with children who are at the end of their financial rope. I have a friend at my church who needs a program exactly like this. He is married with two kids, one in high school, and is very hard working, desperate for a job, motivated to keep his family afloat.
We would have an application process where these families would fill out paperwork explaining their situation. If the application is accepted, they would move into our complex at a monthly rate that we determine on a 6-12 month lease. During that time, our non-profit will help the family find work, help provide food for them, and meet with them regularly to see how they're doing. When the lease expires, we'd re-evaluate their situation if they're at a point where they can support themselves again, they'd move out and we'd consider it a success. If we do not see any progress or any motivation to work, and the family just wants to sit and live off the organization, their lease will not be renewed and they will be asked to leave. If the family is still very motivated to find work and still actively on the search, but NOT able to move out yet, we will renew their lease and extend it another 6-12 months.
I don't mean to boast, but I consider myself to have a pretty good judge of character, and I am thankful to say that the people I am good friends with who want to start this non-profit with me have similar intuition. The people targeted for this kind of non-profit would become a part of OUR community as well. My family would live on-site and so would a couple of other families. Their sole job would be to invest in restoring the needy families, whether by cooking, ministering, counseling, etc. We all have different abilities and skills, and it could shape up to be an excellent venture.
