The City of Greensboro spends about $10 million a year on the homeless population, according to an op-ed piece in the News & Record by Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba.
Jaiyeoba actually stated that Greensboro has spent over $32 million since 2020, but rounding that to $10 million a year seems fair. The numbers are hard for an outsider to put together since money for the homeless population is spent out of many different accounts. But, of course, as city manager, Jaiyeoba has that information at his fingertips.
Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of money, and it doesn’t appear that much has been accomplished for $32 million.
According to the annual point-in-time count, there were 452 homeless people in Guilford County on Jan. 25, 2023. It seems unlikely that all of those people were in Greensboro, but assuming that they were, and rounding the amount spent to $10 million a year, that means the city has been spending over $22,000 apiece per year on homeless people in Greensboro.
This does not count the money that Guilford County or High Point spends on the 452 homeless people in Guilford County. According to Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, Guilford County spends about $1 million a year just housing the homeless in hotels.
It also doesn’t count the money spent by nonprofit organizations and churches on helping the homeless population.
So, the amount of money spent on the homeless in Guilford County is actually much higher than the $10 million a year that the City of Greensboro spends. But when you consider $10 million a year for 452 people, it would appear ending homelessness in Greensboro would be a simple matter of better spending that money.
The average apartment rent in Greensboro is about $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year, according to apartments.com, which means the City of Greensboro could rent an apartment at the current market rate for each homeless person in Guilford County for $5.4 million and have $4.6 million to pay other expenses.
But it’s actually better than that because, according to the point-in-time count, the 452 people represented 371 households. So, the city would have nearly $27,000 to spend on each household each year, which means the city could rent each homeless household an apartment at market rate for a year for only $4.5 million, giving the city $5.5 million to provide for other necessities.
The current policies and spending on the homeless spend a lot of money for hotel rooms and a lot of money for non-profit organizations, such as the Interactive Resource Center (IRC), to work with the homeless. If the goal is provide permanent housing for the homeless population, it doesn’t appear to be working. But a lot of people are being paid with tax dollars, either directly or indirectly, to provide services for homeless people.
Jaiyeoba also notes that the city has spent $3 million on the Regency Inn. Jaiyeoba lists this as part of what the city is doing to assist the homeless, but the Regency Inn is an example of the opposite.
The City Council allocated $3 million in 2021 to purchase the Regency Inn. But this was actually a “loan” to a nonprofit to buy the Regency Inn. It is officially a loan, but it is a no-interest forgivable loan, which means that along with not paying interest, the $3 million doesn’t have to be paid back, which is actually more of a grant than a loan. But what Jaiyeoba doesn’t mention is that two years later not a single person is being housed at the Regency Inn.
If the Regency Inn ever does house homeless people, the cost will be astronomical. The estimate in 2021 was that the project to house 57 homeless people would cost $13 million. That’s over $228,000 for each person. The $13 million doesn’t include providing the residents with water, electricity, heat, food or services.
According to housing sites, a 1,000-square-foot home in Greensboro can be built for about $100,000, and the City Council didn’t balk at spending $228,000 per room to house homeless people.
It does, however, explain how the City of Greensboro can spend $10 million a year on homeless people and not manage to put people in homes.
You seem narrowly focused on housing. Didn’t some of these resources go to feeding homeless and offering services to help people overcome the reason they are homeless? (Mental illness, drug addiction, lack of job skills, etc…..)
Thank you John, you have made my point exactly. Especially about the Regancy Inn. I’m sorry to say this but I smell something really fishy in all this. Especially about the way Ms. Kennedy left the council and the IRC and gets a very well paid position for the city that was never posted
But the alternative? Other cities have issued the ultimatum of go to a shelter or some provided permanent housing WITH addiction treatment or leave the area. The addiction problem is the biggest snag. So in effect this City and other cities and County are paying to support the addiction.
Camping on public space CAN be outlawed and removed by court order.
I join others in being fed up with this problem, even having to have this discussion!
Excellent article John! Now who on city council and Guilford commissioners gives a rip? Pets projects, IRC etc all pixie dust far left feel good do nothing programs. Hell of a rut we are in. But, folks will continue to blindly vote for the same old jokes.
The current City Council could not run a lemonade stand – and make a profit (see leaf pick-up plans)
The Greensboro Housing Authority needs to be audited to uncover why their Section 8 Housing has had a waiting list, which has been closed for years. Also, ask the GHA what the percentage of ethnicities are provided these addresses and you’ll find a tight-lipped non-profit who will ignore your inquiry.
Also, by providing low-income allowances to those currently residing in various locations, it would thwart the increase in evictions which continues to spiral out of control.
End the “landlord is god” laws and start supporting those residents on fixed incomes, especially the elderly.
I believe I have some useful information about why the Greensboro Housing Authority and the Section 8 Voucher program has a waiting list. Many people are unaware that within a given geographical area there’s only a very limited number of Vouchers at “play” in a certain timeframe. Now, I don’t know how this amount is allocated. But, for various reasons this is the reason why you need to watch very carefully the Greensboro Housing Authority website to see when they post the notifications on whether they will be accepting new applications for the wait list to the program. If you already have a valid voucher for more than 1 year, you may take it with you and move to another Housing Authority location. This is called ” portability.” There’s a Case Worker here in the Greensboro Housing Authority who will process you if you are attempting to move in with one of these valid vouchers from outside the area. The main problem is, we just have far too many people who are seeking what is known as “affordable housing” than there is a supply. This could be either income adjusted housing or landlords who are willing to participate in programs like the Section 8 Voucher program. If you look at HUD special needs housing such as for the senior citizens Section 202 developments, or programs like the Affordable Housing Management INC which have 10 communities…all of which I currently believe are posting not currently taking new applications. This indicates a very severe perspective to the public that we are just not addressing this type of housing situation very effectively. It doesn’t take much for a family that is currently sheltered and working to have a minor crisis and slip into homelessness. Single adults can become even more vulnerable themselves. Not everyone who is homeless suffers from the scourges of drug addiction and mental health problems. And, once you find yourself out on the streets for even a short amount of time it can become very, very difficult to claw your way back into stable housing. Those of us who have never faced a night in a parking lot or uncertain about where we will lay our heads to rest would do well to try and look deep within ourselves and find some modicum of compassion. These problems are multilayered and difficult to solve. They require MANY people from different agencies working together over a long time. I understand this from both the perspective of a person who has experienced homelessness myself. As well as a person who has been employed as a employee in multiple nonprofit organizations over the decades I lived in Greensboro, NC. I have worked in these capacities in administration and fundraising so I do feel like this gives me a rather well rounded ability to comment on the inner working about some of these things. I do not use drugs and at the time I was staying at Greensboro Urban Ministry in 2002 I was employed at NCA & T State University in the Development office working as a Prospect Researcher evaluating wealthy individuals, corporations and foundations on a $100 million dollars campaign over 5 years. I had become homeless due to an issue with my roommates. People often have very strange ideas about how people become homeless. I was employed, yet staying at a homeless shelter. I have a Master’s degree in Community Education and graduate certificate in Resource Development. Department of Leadership and Higher Education from Appalachian State University. So, please before you judge another homeless person think that they too, have a name and background. And, did not wish to be where they are. It’s only by sharing these types of personal stories, I believe we can develop more compassion about each other. I have been stable sheltered since this time.
Thank you for sharing your story.
You are to be applauded for your degrees, but none of them are in the fields of science, technology, math, etc., where you can make more money in the private sector.
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John has alluded to the real raison d’etre for all government agencies (except the military). They exist not to provide the service they pretend to provide. They exist to benefit themselves, with sinecure jobs, obscenely profligate salaries, Rolls-Royce benefits, and gold plated retirements.
“A lot of people are being paid with tax dollars… to provide services for homeless people” – there you have it.
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Government schools exist to create an army of overpaid incompetent “educators” who produce the worst educated kids in the Western World, while working 9 months a year for a salary over $50,000 p.a.
Their abysmal performance results in no sanctions, and no reforms, because there is zero accountability. That’s because the real purpose is the creation of a massive “jobs for the boys” scheme for people of mediocre abilities.
The kids just provide the pretext for it all. In truth, they are the victims of a coercive government monopoly.
And so it goes with every other government program.
The Parasitic Sector is the epitome of greed.
Nothing in Hammer’s article supports your tired argument. Go back to England and take your hate bigotry with you.
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You anti-immigrant bigot !
Prejudiced spiteful narrow minded people like you give our community a bad name. In future, keep your “hate” to yourself, bigot.
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Hey, you used hate as a noun! Awesome. Good for you for learning the English language.
If he were wrong, wouldn’t there be fewer and fewer homeless people every year? Wouldn’t a well-run organization with millions of dollars at its disposal and a finite number of homeless people eventually be able to resolve their homelessness over a relatively short amount of time? And yet, I see the same homeless people year after year after year sitting on the same street corners. Sure there are a few people who do get housed so the organizations can hold them up as poster children, but by and large, the same people stay unhoused, and the money magically disappears. Seems to me that organizations like “Partners Ending Homelessness” are too busy paying their own wages to actually focus on ending homelessness.
Good post. If the so-called “do-gooders” on the Council want to help, they can always ask one or two of the homeless to come stay with them for a few nights. You know that will NEVER happen, so they push for more money from citizens to be spent on a never ending scenario of tax and spend.
PS
You really ought to declare an interest, Chrissy.
Your wife works in the Government Schools, doesn’t she?
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No, she works for a private university these days. Doubled her income. But she misses the kids for sure.
You don’t think the school system is incredibly top heavy? You don’t think they waste more money on administration than on the kids? You might need glasses, Chris, or take off those rose-colored ones.
School systems are set up to pay higher wages to those with higher college degrees, regardless as to whether they are useful or not.
I was married to a school teacher, K-5. She finished up teaching AG classes. Whatever teachers are paid, it is not enough (just like our GPD). The political c^(p they have to put up with is staggering. They have to teach the indoctrination agenda to a class of kids who have no respect at all. Teachers are public baby-sitters. Our indoctrinated & woke educational system produces many teachers who don’t know Jack.
Second, teachers are paid to work nine months (now closer to ten). They don’t get 2-3 months off, they just don’t get paid for those months.
Govt IS the problem, ultimately, the voters.
Name something our govt does well.
Unfortunately the American education system has declined to the point it is in now. Add to this the overwhelming desire by leftist liberals to replace necessary subjects with socialist, DEI, pasture pudding resulting in American children falling behind in the world. Unless you extend the school day or get rid of the useless crap the liberal left insists should be taught our children will continue to fall behind.
Try asking students basic questions about the 3 Rs or about history, both U.S. and world, or about how our government works and, assuming you learned it back in your day, you will be shocked.
Austin, your comment of “Government schools exist to create an army of overpaid incompetent “educators” who produce the worst educated kids in the Western World, while working 9 months a year for a salary over $50,000 p.a.” was spot on and I salute you for it sir.
And BTW sir, God Save the King.
What a fool. Curriculum is established by the State which has been under Republican control for quite some time.
One who would rent to homeless people when a lot of apartments will it rent to section 8
2 where would you build these homeless house( that must be inside the city limits) starmount, Glennwood, Irving park fisher park? You would want them dumped right on black homeowners who are now experiencing rising property values there is no magic bullet for this but the people out of power always will have a gripe because they can’t put forth solutions!
1 Section 8 should be abolished, just like affirmative action it’s nothing more than a handout from the Johnson years that burden taxpayers
2 section 8 is a pain in the a$$ for people who rent property
3 the people who use section 8 90% of the time do nothing but screw up the landlords property then complain about the condition they live in
4 I’m speaking from first hand knowledge having did maintenance and repairs on section 8 property for 40 + years
4 Glad it’s over now
5 where do you live big city I’ll see about getting some homeless housing in your neighborhood
Because greensboro city don’t care about the homeless.. They just throw money around to non profit groups. (Putting money into nonprofit groups pockets instead of helping the homeless) Out of all those millions spent, 10,000 dollars could’ve help a homeless person who doesn’t want to be homeless and who is trying everything in their power to get off the streets…. I know because I’m homeless……
“Putting money into nonprofit groups pockets instead of helping the homeless.”
That’s the objective of some on the City Council. . .Yvonne?
Well said Mr. Hammer, but then common sense has never been a virtue on either the County or City Government leadership.
You are absolutely correct. And again, Councilman Matheny has spoken out about this very subject. He is the only one that admits all of the money being spent is simply “Band AIDS”. And again, our City Manager ignores him. He gave an “explanation” of how the money allocated for the homeless is being spent! And there was a few million unexplained….. why is only one Councilman asking questions? And why are the City Manager and the Mayor completely ignoring the questions.
Incompetance!
All this feel-good snafu on homeless is worthless. The problem is : DRUGS, and the border.
$100 million wouldn’t make a lasting difference either. Money can’t fix it, and the government can ruin a wet dream.
Goldie said it best “it’s not about dollars and cents” and the city cannot set any metrics for performance because they would never be met. It’s noble but mostly a feel good thing for council. BTW, the city would spend $30 million a year on the homeless if it could.
It does not work…socialism in small form like Greensboro or San Francisco…built it and they will suck the working class dry via taxes and fees! I am moving to a BFE location that my taxes will be 1/4 greenslibratard charges me…and no l will not tell you where l am going!
Buenissimo!
Get out now, while you can.
Could all the spending and all the “outreach” actually draw more homeless to the area? Sort of the dark side of “If You Build It, They Will Come”. Just like the panhandling problem, it just gets worse and worse. I went through the intersection near the Lowes and Walmart on Elmsly a couple of weeks ago. I saw a sign that said no standing on the median at any time. I also saw a panhandler sitting on a milk crate, leaning on the signpost right under the sign. He looked like he could fall over into traffic at any moment. Every major intersection in my area has a panhandler sometimes two or three.
These results were predictable from day one.
Give them a one-way bus ticket to California, Washington DC, New York, etc., so they can live in a better climate among other people like them.
I can understand the lack of affordable housing in the Greensboro area. A possible win-win solution would be to rent the multitude of new Air B-n-Bs for $20k per year, or tax the dickens out of them to pay for effective services such as investigating WHO is selling them drugs, addiction treatment to help the person “get clean”; effective holistic health care and a work program [which could as basic as cleaning up the area/block they “live on”.
Uh, no. We are being taxed out of things we have earned, and need to get by. I am against any more taxes/fees, etc., for any purpose.
Housing? Developers will build enough to fill the need. Govt gets in the way.
Free enterprise.
I think perhaps you are looking at this $10 million the wrong way. While those dollars are obviously not providing homes for the 452 homeless people you identify, just think of the many people who are not homeless because this money is being diverted to their benefit…
Please be very careful Frank. You make a logical and thoughtful comment that, IMO, is probably not too far from factual.
I am sure the homeless situation is more complicated than I can rationalize, as Amanda tried to explain above. However, I think most of the people on the streets chose to be homeless. You cannot solve this problem for the majority of them. They chose to live this way. They don want to be some place where there are rules, etc., i.e., no smoking, no drugs, cleanliness, etc. My solution is get a job and pay your way. I am not interested in supporting you using my tax dollars!