Group proposes $3 billion private city to house 150,000 displaced people in California

A group called Citizens Again has proposed building a private city in California to house 150,000 people experiencing homelessness, at an estimated cost of $3 billion. The plan was announced by Daune Nason, the group’s founder, as a response to the homelessness crisis in the state.

In a statement quoted in the report, Nason said it was time to think differently about the crisis. Rather than building 4,000 additional shelters, he said, Citizens Again would finance the construction of a single city meeting the needs of all homeless and chronically homeless adults in America. He argued that this approach would be faster and would cost billions more than current efforts. According to the report, the city would occupy about 300 acres and include high-density student housing, a hospital, health care, food services, on-site job training, and life skills enrichment.

The group’s timeline was also described in the report. It estimated that, based on government placement rates over the previous 10 years, it would take about 200 years to provide sufficient shelter for 90,000 adults without chronic shelter. Citizens Again projects that its city could be ready in 11 years, with an opening date of 2031.

Nason said he had looked at two locations in California and that the site would need a mild climate and mostly flat ground. The report said people in his hometown of Folsom have mixed views about the proposal. Mike Lucio, quoted in the report, said property values could fall and that people want help but do not want it near their homes.

According to the report, Nason acknowledged that the project would take time and resources. He said it was ambitious and that nothing like it existed in the country’s history, and that it would require many people working together. Qualified residents, whose standards have not been disclosed, would be able to live in the city and leave at any time.

The report described the planned design in some detail. Residents would use radio frequency identification to enter the city and to access their bedrooms in one of four neighborhoods, and the system would also be used for purchases and recording work access. The group plans 16-floor dormitories with shared sleeping areas and bathrooms with private showers. Each neighborhood would have a cafeteria, a kitchen, and multiple meal times, along with shared recreation spaces. The plan also includes underground tunnels for deliveries and for workers traveling to jobs outside the city. Citizens Again said residents who are ready to leave would receive treatment and skills training. The group said, “It will be a city they want to live in, a community they want to be part of, and for those who want to be, an opportunity to acquire life skills to reintegrate into society.” Helping people build skills for work and stable living (Colossians 3:23) reflects the program’s stated emphasis on training.

A GoFundMe campaign seeking $50,000 was set up, and the report said it had received $820 so far. The report also noted that the Citizens Again plan is one of many alternatives being proposed to address homelessness in California.

Citizens Again stated that the federal government spent $6.1 billion on homelessness, with about 78 percent of that amount going to those experiencing chronic homelessness, a group the statement said makes up only 18 percent of the population. The report cited figures from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness indicating that an estimated 129,972 people were homeless on any given day in California between 2009 and 2018. Of that total, the report said more than 10,000 were veterans and 34,000 were chronically homeless.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Arabic)