California pays its officials very well. The guy with a failed homeless policy for the City of Los Angeles gets paid MORE than the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for the whole nation.
“With a staff of 737 and a $55 million payroll, one might think the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCIDLA) would have homelessness under control in L.A.
Wrong.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that LA’s HCIDLA director, Rushmore Cervantes, took home $254,937 in 2019, out-earning the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson who was paid $199,700 that same year. With benefits, Cervantes’ compensation package exceeded $300,000.
In just one year, 2019, the number of homeless in L.A. went up by over 16%. No wonder the city had a one billion deficit, which has now been covered by Biden/Harris in the disguise of COVID relief. As for the homeless, it seems the more we spend on this crisis, the worse it gets.
Op-Ed: $300,000 LA homeless administrator out-earns U.S. HUD secretary
Adam Andrzejewski | Waste of the Day, 3/22/21
With a staff of 737 and a $55 million payroll, one might think the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCIDLA) would have homelessness under control in L.A.
Wrong.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that LA’s HCIDLA director, Rushmore Cervantes, took home $254,937 in 2019, out-earning the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson who was paid $199,700 that same year. With benefits, Cervantes’ compensation package exceeded $300,000.
Four of Cervantes’ assistant general managers also out-earned the HUD secretary.
The agency aids people in poverty by administering Section 8 federal grants, rent stabilization policies, the housing code, and services to the homeless population.
Despite the high pay and good intentions, the number of homeless people living in LA continues to escalate. Numbers from the city’s own census show 41,290 homeless in 2020, a figure up 16.1 percent from 2019.
Homeless encampment complaints to the city’s 311 hotline – which we plotted in an eye-popping map – reached nearly 100,000 calls between January 2019 and August 2020.
The city reports it placed 23,000 people in homes in 2019, but blames an influx of homeless for exacerbating the problem along with “the failures of the economy and effects of institutional racism[,]” according to LA Homeless Services Authority Commission Chair Sarah Dusseault.
A voter-approved $1.2 billion bond issue in 2016 promised 10,000 new apartments for the homeless. However, the projected units dropped to around 7,600, as construction overruns and consultant fees pushed the cost of some housing units to over $700,000 apiece.
Whenever we open LA’s books, the city consistently ranks among the worst tax-and-spend offenders. It appears its homeless office is no exception.
