I’ve been in and out of shelters since I turned 18. I’ve seen the best (Urban Street Angels) and I’ve seen the absolute worst. But City Net in Chula Vista is in a category of its own. While I appreciate having a roof, the reality inside these walls is a "setup for failure." Whether that is by design or incompetence, I don’t know—but it is a betrayal of the city and the people living here.
They claim a success rate 2x higher than the national average. I’m living here, and I’m telling you: They are lying and cheating.
1. Total Dictator Syndrome: Management by Retaliation
The Program Manager here has what I call "TDS"—Total Dictator Syndrome. When I first arrived, I used my background working for a nonprofit to put together a project plan—real, quick improvements that would actually work for the residents. He sat there, heard me out, and then showed his true colors.
Immediately after, the "random" room inspections started—the kind he promised would only happen with prior notice. He did an inspection and wrote me up. Later, when I tried to advocate for Ms. S—a woman who is legally blind, deaf, uses a walker, and weighs maybe 100 pounds soaking wet because staff ignored her issues with the handicap bathroom—I was targeted again.
I was written up for having a Walmart paper bag with trash in it outside my door. They claimed I had an "attitude" because I didn't say "pretty please" and act humble enough for the bare minimum. They even fabricated a story that I kicked a door shut. At City Net, if you have a voice, they put a target on your back.
2. The "Useless" Case Managers
The lack of emotional intelligence in this building is scary. They hire people who lack the skill, the education, and most importantly, the lived experience to work with the homeless.
They don't support you with clothes, employment, credit, or housing.
The case managers sit around and do nothing; I do more in an hour than they do in a month.
It’s a three-month program, yet people have been here for over two years. That is how they "cheat" their success numbers—by never moving people out, or just holding them indefinitely.
3. The Chula Vista PD Connection: Laundry & Locked Doors
Here is something the city should be asking about: Why is the Chula Vista PD doing their laundry here? I’ve seen it myself. Why would an officer need to wash two or three items of clothing here, and why would the door need to be locked? I was doing my laundry too, Officer Tate. It’s a strange, cozy relationship for a program owned by the city.
4. The Curb: The "City Net" Exit Strategy
This place doesn't help; it enables and prolongs the inevitable. Most people here are supposed to be working (I was, until I quit last week—a long story for another time). Less than a quarter of the residents have a steady income.
And when they finally decide to kick you out? There is no "warm transition."
They leave you on the curb right outside with all the stuff you’ve accumulated.
If you have dogs, they leave them on the curb with you.
they don't care if you're hungry, or if its raining or where you go but you better go
Because the city owns the program, they just call the police, and the same people who brought you here make sure you’re dumped back on the street.
The Bottom Line
Anyway, fuck this place. It’s just like the rest of them. Maybe the worst of them all , because they feed you lies and give you false hope when the reality is they’re setting you up. They know it: less than a quarter of people who live here have jobs or a steady stream of income. They have shopping carts do drugs and ain't getting housing anytime soon no offense to my people, but it is true, and they can't be mad at me for the truth. its not like city Net has any programming at all to help guide or even motivate these people into doing something different, the whole damn place is a big fat promising lie.
This isn't a program. It's a warehouse for humans while the city collects the checks. Then pat themselves on the back for "success" ( that it took some clients more than two years to achieve, that couple is actually still here right now and last I checked working for the city fior one day a week isn't a job that anybody could live off and he's not looking for another one sooo what was the success rate again?) while the staff collects a paycheck for doing nothing but random room checks and watching movies and ordering take out.
stay tuned.
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