OPINION: Solving County’s Homeless-Vagrant Problem: Godly vs. godless approaches

Within Washoe County are two vastly different approaches for trying to solve its growing homeless-vagrant problem.

One approach is Godly. The other is godless.

One is God-affirming. The other is God-denying.

Which is Which?

The God-denying approach is typified by the County-owned and government-funded CARES program.

The primary God-affirming programs are the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission and Victory Outreach.

The two approaches to resolving county homeless-vagrancy could not be more different.

Defining the Two Approaches

• The godless approach at the CARES facility is run with no institutionalized mention of God. The program’s unenforced and quasi-moral values are derived from subjective, secular humanism. CARES requires neither weekly church attendance, nor daily Bible study classes.

• Gospel’s and Victory’s Godly approach base their programs on a foundation of biblical values. Bible study classes are mandatory. Weekly church attendance is required, and rules regarding moral behavior are as fixed as the scriptural teachings they’re sourced from.

Supporters, Political Orientation, and Leadership

• The God-denying CARES program is overwhelmingly supported by the political Left. It endorses and aligns with the ultra-liberal Democrat platform. CARES is led by individuals whose views on religion range from agnostic/indifferent to hostile. Most employees see God as irrelevant to their efforts to uplift homeless-vagrants.

• The God-affirming Mission and Victory programs are supported and led by religiously committed conservatives.. These people understand Judeo-Christian values to be foundationally important for transforming America.  They also believe those values are the most important component for transforming the lives of homeless-vagrants as well.

How Do These 2 Completely Different Approaches Work ? 

Funding

• The County funds the godless CARES facility with approximately $18M per year of taxpayers’ money. Added to that, annually, are tens of millions of additional funding from government grants, for an estimated total of $30-40M per year.

The County refuses to provide an exact amount of funding, or how it is disbursed. 

• The Godly Gospel Mission and Victory Outreach programs receive NO government funding. Their budgets come from individual community donors, local companies, churches, and in-house businesses. Their annual budgets are estimated in the $2M – to – 4M range.

Daily Programs

• The God-denying CARES program has almost NO one working at any jobs. Clients have daily maid service, paid for by the County.  These “maids” clean up the clients’ abundant trash, do their laundry, clean their filthy bathrooms, and spray, unsuccessfully, for bedbugs. The atmosphere is violent, disrespectful, and immoral. CARES averages 3-5 police calls EVERY DAY to stop violent, criminal behavior and drug issues.

• The God-affirming Gospel/Victory programs require daily employment by ALL clients, and maintain peaceful, respectful, moral environments. All clients must participate in cleaning and maintaining their spotless facilities. Over decades, there is no record of the police EVER being called to quell disturbances at their facilities.

Drugs & Alcohol

• The godless CARES program overflows with both drugs and alcohol. Numerous first-hand reports confirm that staff regularly sell drugs to clients, including fentanyl.

• The Godly programs at Gospel and Victory have NO drugs or alcohol.

Client Results

• The God-denying CARES program – 7 years, $300M and thousands of clients later, has no record of even ONE client who has become a fully unsubsidized success . . . ZERO. This was recently attested to by CARES’ highest profile manager.

• The God-Affirming Gospel Mission and Victory Outreach programs have had incredible success for decades with hundreds of fully-successful clients.

CONCLUSION:

God-Affirming Homeless-Vagrant Programs WORK. 

God-Denying Programs DON’T.

The irrefutable results and proof of those statements for Washoe County’s homeless-vagrant programs are equally true for similar programs nation-wide.

Wasted lives are fully transformed ONLY by God-affirming programs that address the hearts and souls of homeless-vagrant individuals. These programs awaken men and women to their God-given ability – and true desire to be clean and sober, hard-working, law-abiding, and contributing members of society. These God-affirming programs – alone – transform homeless-vagrants into honorable sons/daughters, brothers/sisters, husbands/wives, and fathers/mothers.

God-denying programs, exemplified by Washoe’s CARES program, try to accomplish their work solely with a combination of:

• medication
• pity
• social workers
• psychological theorizing
• handouts
• resume preparation classes
• no rules or accountability
• and subsidized make-work jobs.

CARES-type programs completely fail because they completely ignore their clients’ ultimate need for MORAL change – their ultimate need for Almighty God.

Impact on County Residents 

• The Godly Victory and Gospel programs cost the city NOTHING and provide great community benefit.

• The godless CARES program costs the county MILLIONS annually. It exposes the County to extreme liability and provides NO benefit to Washoe residents – other than the numerous paychecks it supplies to numerous NGO sub-contractors.

• CARES has exponentially increased the homeless-vagrant population since its inception, and this is an increasing trend.

• CARES clients have played the largest role in increasing county crime: turning downtown Reno into an abandoned, dangerous area.

Commissioners Have Been Offered a Solution. 

Will They Take It?

County Commissioners and the County Homeless Advisory Board (CHAB) were recently offered a solution to the homeless-vagrant disaster created by the godless CARES program.  The presenting organization was Education Crusade.

In a 10-minute agenda item, Commissioners learned how the problem could be completely resolved, beginning immediately, and at an $18M per year savings to taxpayers.

The presentation offered Commissioners a no-cost way to replace the failed, God-denying CARES program with an effective, God-affirming, and privately-funded program, similar to the Gospel Mission and Victory Outreach.

Listen to the presentation on the enclosed link. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ElJPiDC9o

The presentation starts around the 1:04:25 mark. 

Tell your Commissioner what YOU think about this proposal. Should they consider it as a viable option? 

Make YOUR voice heard. 

One thing is certain. 

The CARES program cannot be allowed to continue its failing trajectory.

It is drastically increasing our homeless-vagrant population and crime. Unchecked, it will collapse downtown Reno, just like that approach has ruined Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and countless other cities.

And if that happens, it will bring Washoe County’s future down with it.

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