On January 26th , Mayor Turner, alongside democratic commissioners Adrian Garcia, Rodney Ellis, and Judge Hidalgo, announced phase 2 of the Coalition for the Homeless Program Housing initiative. The county has awarded the coalition over 35 million in ARPA funds in the past 9 months alone. The CCHP 2.0 program comes at the cost of 100 million dollars at the promise to house only 7 thousand people.
The Coalition for the Homeless has been one of the head charities awarded millions in tackling homelessness as our county and city was hit by COVID. As I begun to investigate the amount of money which has been awarded to this charity, I noticed that the Coalition for the Homeless had linked up with the Catholic Charities, which had been awarded over 83 million in COVID relief funds just in our counties commissioners court. There is no telling what they have received in funds by the city.
On 5.25.2021, the county commissioners court awarded CCHP 7.7 million. Link
On 1.18.2022, the county awarded an additional 29 million to CCHP totaling up to 35 million dollars. Link
On July, 2nd 2020 Mayor Turner announced a 65 million COVID 19 Homelessness Program. The money was awarded the Coalition of the Homeless, of that 65 million, the city of Houston had contributed $40 million to the new program, while Harris County had contributed $18 million. The initiative is counting on the remaining $6.5 million to come from the private sector, Turner said.
Living in Harris county and Houston, you know that we are are experiencing a serious rise in homelessness. You walk downtown and there are homeless people all over. Encampments are now springing up all over the city, so I have to ask, where is these large sums of money going?
It appears to me that these Charities are not appropriately utilizing the money to tackle the rise in homelessness which our city is facing. Nor have they shown actual concrete results from the 100s of millions in which they have been awarded. It is quite shocking that the county and city would continue to award the same charities 100s of millions, without any sort of level of accountability or request for an audit.
The money that the county and city had allocated to these charities was slated to assist with "rapid re-housing" of those newly homeless by providing one-year rental assistance, which covers about 1,700 individuals and families.
Mayor Turner was quoted as saying that the program would divert 2,000 individuals from entering homelessness through case management services, which could also include short-term rental assistance.
Over the past 11 months, the county has experienced over 67 thousand residents being evicted from their homes. So why is our local government officials continually throwing hundreds of millions of dollars to the same organizations without calling to question where the money is going?
The Coalition for the Homeless website states they have assisted 7,000 families in the past year. What I find questionable, is the amount of money which has been given to this group of charities which all are partnered up. CCHP link By a guesstimate these charities have received 500 million dollars if not more. You can read more about the amount of money which has been allocated to rental Assistance programs here Link
Hyperlinked is the video of Turners announcement, CCHP announcement video Unfortunately, I was kicked out of the press conference by Mary Benton after I had questioned commissioner Rodney Ellis regarding to his ties to the Catholic charities and Baker Ripley.
Turner stated that phase 2 of the 100 million dollars homeless initiative would house 7 thousand residents experiencing homelessness, yet, there are still 67 thousand people who are currently homeless in Houston. It’s troubling that the county and city are awarding these charities large sums of money when there is very little oversight as to where the money goes once it is awarded over to the charities. Even more alarming to me is that I have overheard one of the Democratic commissioners claiming he is not sure where the money is going since it is apparent that minimal results are being shown from these charities.
Another issue I found when I was reviewing the CCHP contracts, is that Lance Gilliam sits on the board of the Coalition for the Homeless. Lance Gilliam is Commissioners Rodney Ellis’s wife’s business partner and has been embroiled with scandals regarding enriching himself with contracts awarded by the county and city, you can read further about tje Housing authority scandal here:( Houston Housing Authority Scandal )
When I discovered that Lance Gilliam sits as the chair of the Board Officers for Coalition for the Homeless, I also found that The Catholic Charities is a partner with this 100 million dollar Initiative, as well as Baker Ripley. I was easily able to link Commissioner Rodney Ellis to Felix Fraga of Baker Ripley (Fraga Link) and the Catholic Charities together. Commissioner Ellis sits on the board of communities in schools with Mr. Fraga of Baker Ripley and the Fraga family is actively involved with the Catholic Charities.
Felix Fraga of BakerRipley also serves on the board of the Houston Housing Authority.
Over the past year, I have ascertained that most if not all of the contracts which have been awarded through commissioners court under the guise of COVID seem to be tied to 3 key charities and one law firm: Baker Ripley, Coalition for the Homeless and the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. All 3 of the charities are connected to the democrat commissioner's cronies. Yielding I believe little to no accountability or oversight that the money is being spent in the way it which it was intended.
On November 30th, 2021 Lina Hidalgo had submitted an application for an additional 125 million for rental assistance.
Wow, way to steal this reporting from the Texas Scorecard. I hope Robby Montoya sues you for plagiarism. No better than a lying Democrat.