The Orange County Register reports that a local nonprofit set up to expand housing for people with developmental disabilities “has done little to further its core mission, instead directing three-fourths of its spending to its own management.”

Community Housing Resources Inc. (CHRI) was created in 1997 by the Regional Center of Orange County to help some of the 7,400 adults with developmental disabilities in Orange County to live independently.

But after more than a decade in existence and $1.6 million in taxpayer funding, the housing nonprofit has little to show for itself. In five of the past eight years, Community Housing Resources spent zero on its mission of housing the disabled. It owns no properties outright, has about $700,000 unused in its accounts, and has allocated 74 percent of its spending on management salaries and costs.

The State Department of Developmental Services says it has never audited the program.

… Meanwhile, the problem that the non-profit is supposed to help solve is becoming more acute. Last year, a report by the California Affordable Housing Institute described the lack of housing for developmentally disabled adults statewide as being at “a crisis level.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 6:41 pm and is filed under housing, intellectual/developmental disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.