Any industry can be lucrative if you’re shameless enough — even “helping the homeless.”
A damning Department of Investigations report shows the heads of city-paid shelter “charities” have been milking the system for years , using taxpayer cash to award themselves massive pay packages.
The numbers are jaw-dropping: $916,000 for the CEO of Acacia Network Housing; more than $700,000 across multiple years for the head of Camba; $1 million for the CEO of CORE, Jack Brown — who in 2021 was also caught stacking the org’s payroll with buddies and set up for-profit vendors that also funneled him cash. (The city cut ties with CORE shortly after.)
That’s a lot of profit for the heads of nonprofits.
Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park took the heat at Tuesday’s City Council hearing, but these abuses are longstanding.
Including execs’ double-dipping: The report showed that nonprofit shelter provider SEBCO Development Inc. used $11.6 million in taxpayer money to cover security services from a company owned by SEBCO, then senior executives at SEBCO cashed in on nearly $400,000 in salaries from the security company.