El Centro Council criticizes IVCC for grant money spent on homelessness

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Members of the El Centro City Council criticized their  Police Chief Brian Johnson for the way a countywide organization is spending state grant money meant to aid the region’s homeless population.

Council members referred to the organization as a “bureaucracy of waste” where emergency funds are not funding chronic homelessness.

Johnson is a member of the nine-person Continuum of Care Council’s executive board.

Of the $4.6 million the IVCCC was awarded in July 2019, only half a million of those funds have been spent.

Chief Johnson said He blamed the delay in spending the funds on local nonprofit organizations’ inability to work with the IVCCC.

“In the homeless world we are very siloed not just us but across the country and breaking up those silos and getting people to mutually and cooperatively work together and that is one of our goals as aboard,”said Johnson. 

Johnson says the money that was allocated went mostly to people that could become homeless.

Cheryl Viegas-Walker Council Member says they are not treating chronic homelessness.

“Probably 70-80 percent of those people are going to say thank you but no thank you I do not want any help right I love living out in the streets. That's the frustrating part we’re going to provide you three meals and they refuse that and it’s hard to comprehend that,” said Johnson.  

Viegas-Walker suggested they treat the root of homelessness such as addiction and other factors that contribute to it. 

She also suggested the IVCC has more transparency. 

“We also have to keep in mind these are taxpayer dollars so it’s not like it’s free money that we found on a tree somewhere I guess my concern is if we don’t a good system to track where the money is going couldn't we have multiple agencies providing the same service to the same individual.”

In the last year homeless numbers increased 2.6 percent.