“It’s all about the money.”
“These guys are getting rich”
“They’re making a killing here!”
We hear these statements all the time from clients who don’t want to be responsible.
They’re having a hard time finding a job. They’ve never worked. They’ve regularly sponged off of mommy and daddy. Or else they’ve been in prison, which is kind of a state welfare system.
When they first get to TLC and are told to find a job to pay for their stay they get angry. They’ll hook up with others around the program who have the same anger. And they’ll start the “all about the money” conversation.
Usually they’ll do the math and come up with a number. They’ll say something like “there are 80 people here at $110.00 a week. Damn! These guys are taking in almost $9,000 a week. And that’s just at one house!”
The conversation goes on and one like this until they either relapse or are asked to leave because they’re unwilling to be responsible – which is what it’s all about.
And of course those of us responsible for TLC’s finances wish that what they say about money was true. If we collected $110 a week from each client we’d be in great shape.
The reality is – based on our latest figures is that the average client pays around half of that amount: around $57 a week. The only way the TLC halfway houses function is because of outside businesses such as Temporary Labor Company, The Inconvenience Store, and the Alhambra Hotel. In addition several of our landlords have reduced their rent or not collected it at all. Currently TLC loses around $9,000 a month and only survives because of these generous landlords and income from outside businesses.
Another reality the irresponsible client doesn’t look at is that there’s nowhere a person can find housing, utilities, meals, job assistance and counseling for $110 a week.
Right now the Motel 6 down the street is running at about $39 a day or around $273 a week. And that’s money upfront. No meals. No job assistance. No counseling.
Hmmmm…..
No comments:
Post a Comment