23
Mar
Law of Attraction: Does Giving Mansions to Homeless People Actually Help?
Author: ophelia | Category:
Law of Attraction
This morning there was a big story on yahoo! I’m going to be your yahoo! reporter on all things relevant to rich people or money from here on out as I always seem drawn to these stories.
Anyway this story was on the front page of yahoo:
Billionaire opens mansions to homeless
HONOLULU - Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families.
Tears spilled down Kahale’s cheeks as she accepted from billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto the key to a white, columned house with a circular driveway, a stone staircase and a deep porcelain bathtub. Her family will live there rent-free, but must pay utility bills.
“I’m shocked. I’m overwhelmed,” Kahale said. “From the little box we had to what we have today.”
Kawamoto, whose own eyes started welling up as Kahale cried, handed over two other homes Thursday to homeless or low-income families.
Kahale’s new house is worth nearly $5 million, an average price for the mansion-like dwellings on Kahala Avenue. It is one of the more modest homes in the neighborhood, many of which feature ornate iron gates, meandering driveways and sculptured gardens.
Kahale became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from $800 to $1,200, putting the apartment beyond reach of her salary as customer service representative for Pacific LightNet, a telecommunications company. She first stayed with relatives, then moved to a shelter in September.
Okay I know you are all going to kill me for saying this, but does giving a mansion to a homeless person actually help them?
When I originally saw this story in a yahoo group, a person had this comment:
“That’s great that he’s giving back. The wealthy snobs complaining don’t want the formerly homeless living next door to them. Racism and classism at its best.”
Now don’t get me started on that comment, so I’m going to leave it for a rainy day. Racism and classism - what the hell? Okay Ophelia leave it for a rainy day! Back to my comments…does giving poor people money actually help or in this case homeless people mansions actually help? No it doesnt help. Yes they have a roof over their heads. Fine they’ve got a mansion roof over their heads, but moving someone from a box to a mansion doesn’t help their train of thought and it most definitely doesn’t help their pockets.
Isn’t the purpose of helping the homeless to actually HELP THE HOMELESS? If you read the provisions it said that they have to pay utilities on the 5 million dollar mansion - I hate to break it to you but utilities on a mansion ain’t CHEAP!!! Now this lady for instance got evicted because she was unable to afford $1200 a month in rent. How much do you pay for monthly utilities? 200-300 bucks if you are talking a small home with electric, water maybe gas, telephone - cable not needed. How much do you think utilities of a mansion run??? We aren’t even talking upkeep of a mansion, just utilities…
Now think about the situation - this guy says ‘I’m trying to help’ but is instead putting added pressure on these people and not helping them at all. Now these people have to think about transportation - to and from a job - electric, water, gas, food and who do you think is going to be cutting the grass, the hedges? I may be overly criticizing the situation but aren’t there better ways to help?
Couldn’t this guy have built or allowed these people to stay in rooms in his apartment buildings? Wouldn’t that have helped their situation or at least made it a little more affordable? Doesn’t he own tons of apartment buildings? Couldn’t he give these people jobs to help with their situation - teach them skills that will translate to a better life?
They say give a man a fish - he will eat for a day; teach a man how to fish - he will eat for life…I’d love to hear comments on this because maybe I’m only thinking of one side of the story…
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Ophelia,
I concur. It is the poverty MINDSET that keeps people at the poverty level. Giving assistance is great and I am all for it, but giving away charity does not help the poverty mindset.
There is a reason why most people who win the lottery end up broke again eventually. If you used to be poor, then you probably don’t know how to be rich.
Just as if you used to live in a small home, you don’t know how to live in a mansion.
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Aaron,
You are so right- I think it was just a bad choice or a good plan especially since this guy owns apartment buildings nationwide.
It’s one thing to teach someone the steps to improve your mindset around wealth- It’s another to throw the in a mansion and say pay the utilities.
Two things can come from this- either they hate rich people-because the neighbors resent them or they want to be rich because they love the lifestyle.
But what’s the point of being rich if you can’t buy food!
March 25th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I understand the debate, the bottom line , it is his money, he can and did use it as he may. Clearly he could of, should of? sold for 5 million and helped many. I wonder what is in it for him? Compelling
March 25th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I’m a little wary to put my comments here, too, because somehow this seems to be a touchy issue…but yes, of course it’s his money and he can do whatever he wants with it…but the same question came up for me: why did he do this? Was he trying to impress people?
My first thought when I heard the story was that this gentleman wasn’t really thinking about what was best or made the most sense for those he was trying to help…rather it seemed like he wanted people to think he was being generous, altruistic…but we just cannot know, because we are not him. AND we are not donating mansions! Bravo to him for doing something he felt was good.
March 26th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I also blogged about this story on my site. I’m interested in your thoughts about affirmative action programs like Kamehameha Schools (the topic of my blog). You criticize Kawamoto for just simply putting a roof over a homeless families head, but not giving them tools to lead a “higher-class” lifestyle. But what about schools that try to give these tools through education, but are only strictly given to those of a certain race (in this case, Native Hawaiian). I only ask because you seem to have a few thoughts on racism and classism yourself.
March 26th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hello MD,
It is evident that our thought patterns differ- this is not good or bad - it is purely diffrent. I don’t have a problem with racism or classim- Afterall I am black and my best friend is white so not much weight in your theory there..
However you are mistaken if you feel he actions are without motive.. Classism no- While I am happy for these families and their new found oppurtunity - I see a little deeper than the surface and if he truly meant to help- he has tons of apartment buildings wouldnt he have done better helping in that way..
I tend to agree with the neighbors that he’s trying to drop the house values but again my thought pattern may differ from yours none is good or bad- JUST DIFFRENT
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article of Attraction: Does Giving Mansions to Homeless People Actually Help?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.