All building developers must comply with ADA, security and renovation of common areas. Lydia House is no excpetion, and these regulations are not unique to non-profit corporations. And no, the building is not "historical".
Nothing justifies Lydia House costs of more than luxury condos. Actually the math on Lydia House is quite revealing. $500,000 developer's fee to Plymouth, and that's only where it starts to rain money for their "non-profit" charitable work. Prepare to be nauseated when you try to digest their budgets. However, there is one item Plymouth did skimp on: supportive services for their residents (100% of whom need supportive services). The budget we have shows $37,000 annually for services for 40 mentally ill and chemically dependent individuals. Any independent observer would conclude this under-supported supportive housing is too large and institutionalizes individauls in a flawed model that everyone will pay and pay for years. The point that non-profits are more regulated than for-profit corporations fails to address the accountability that for profits have to owners and shareholders to run efficiently and to make money. Anyone familiar with management of a "for profit" will explain how regulated for-profit business is, maybe more so than the non-profits. And by the way, the non-profit regulations fail to correct large development fees, incentives, and related revenue from this "charitable" activity. Some examples: Central Housing Community Trust (Alan Arthur) got $892,000 in development fees for his non-profit housing work in one year, some estimates for Brighton Development Corporation (involved in Lydia House) exceed $1 million. I have never heard an estimate about Family Housing Trust (Tom Fulton) but they are wealthy enough to step in and pay legal fees for Plymouth with Faegre & Benson's $400/hour lawyers. No one knows the total "non-profit" take, although estimites of our affordable housing costs now range more than $100,000,000 for the City of Minneapolis alone. (See, Corporate Report Magazine, March 1994). With a business model, flawed concepts for instituttions like Lydia House likely may undergo a bit more scrutiny to see if the model were likely to work, and $300 plus per square development fees wouldn't be tolerated. These twisted economics make me long for a business model for non-profits. At least we may have accountability. Plus, for goodness sakes, Enron wasn't about lack of regulation; it is about dishonesty. And on this point the neighbors opposed to Lydia House have learned that it is not limited to "for profits." John Cevette Whittier -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Megan Thomas Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 10:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Another example of waste Ahh, but wait before you finish your math... What regulations do they have to meet that the downtown office and Kenwood mansion don't have to meet? ADA compliance, health facility specifications, security, etc.. Look at the keyword "renovate". There are costs associated with renovating that the other properties may not have faced. Is the building historical? Does it have asbestos? Critters? I am willing to bet that they are renovating the halls, offices and other areas too. Does the square foot cost come down when figuring the common traffic ways, operational and other non-residential spaces of the building? Have you done a cost analysis that projects the savings to the City in having a treatment center that reduces future costs such as law enforcement, health care, etc.? For that matter there is the intangible cost of people being able to get treatment and support to lead better lives. This post borders on my most recent pet peeve. The mythology that "businesses" are a good model to base the operations of non-profit organizations on. The fact is that non-profit enterprises are much more regulated than your average business. The non-profit I work for gets financially reviewed by the IRS (form 990), the State Attorney General (Annual Charity Report), plus the Charities review council and any organizations we have received grants from (the University in this case). The fact is that my puny little non-profit that cleared $100,000 for the first time ever last year is more heavily regulated than Enron was. Megan Thomas West Seventh (Stadium Village during the week) -- "When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the world's great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality." Martin Luther King, Jr. Megan Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.iziziz.com > From: Lynne Lowder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 05:00:12 -0800 (PST) > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Mpls] Another example of waste > > Craig Miller wrote "The nonprofit model is proving to > be an unmitigated waste of extraordinary amounts of > precious revenues". > > Yes indeed. Plymouth Congregational Church Foundation > is collecting $5.4 million taxpayer dollars to buy and > renovate a building at 1920 LaSalle into supportive > housing for the mentally ill, chemically dependent and > HIV-positive. There will be 40 units in this facility > at 360 s.f. each. I've done the math and my > calculations show that each of those 360 s.f. rooms > are costing the taxpayers approxiamtly $313/s.f.!!! > Class A office space downtown might cost $125/s.f. A > mansion in Kenwood may cost about $250/s.f. And > Plymouth is building supportive housing for $313/sf. > This is almost $113,000 for each 360s.f. unit. > Plymouth had contributed about $119,000 of the $5.4 > million (the rest will come from us). And they will > end up owning a piece of property that will be worth > some $3,000,000. ....Non-profit??? > > Lynne Lowder > Stevens Square/Loring Heights > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Sports - sign up for Fantasy Baseball > http://sports.yahoo.com > _______________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
