We discuss the idea of “going out to the margins” with Deacon Jim Vargas, CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, a world leader in caring for the homeless on this episode of Catholic Answers Focus.
Cy Kellett:
Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am your host, Cy Kellett. And this time, we focus on one of the most successful programs in the country for assisting people experiencing homelessness, and it’s right here in San Diego. It’s our neighbor, Father Joe’s Villages. The mission there is to prevent and end homelessness one life at a time. Father Joe’s Villages is, in fact, it’s kind of legendary around here. It daily prepares up to 3000 meals and houses as many as 2000 people a night from infants and adolescents to adults and seniors. It offers a whole range of programs and services from housing programs to emergency services, healthcare, employment and education services, and a whole bunch more.
Cy Kellett:
Our guest to discuss that with us today is Deacon Jim Vargas, who serves as president and chief executive officer there at Father Joe’s Villages. He comes to that job from a very successful business career that saw him as an executive, companies like the Copley Press and Citi Corp Citibank. Deacon Jim Vargas, thanks very much for being with us.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Cy, thanks for having us.
Cy Kellett:
So how does this happen? I ask you this, maybe some people will want to prevent it happening to them. You go from being an executive at Citibank to running an organization that serves the homeless.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
It shows you how God works, right?
Cy Kellett:
Amen.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Yeah, it really is. I mean, because the reality is, and I reflect on this quite often, the reality is that everything I had before that, before this, I should say, it was in preparation for this.
Cy Kellett:
Wow.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
In the midst of my time at Copley Press, I was ordained a deacon. So, and at the end of that stint, instead of going onto another corporate initiative, let’s say, I went into pastoral ministry for four years. And I thought that’s where God would have me until the end of my days, in a sense. And then, this opportunity at Father Joe’s came about, and it’s a great blend of my business acumen as well as the pastoral side, because this very much is a business. It’s a business of helping people. This is a 450 team member operation. A lot of employees. It’s a $35 million dollar operation. I mean, so it very much needs to be run as a business, but keeping in mind that it’s for the benefit of those who are so very, very vulnerable.
Cy Kellett:
And you’ve got 450, you said, team members there working. But also, I think Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego is just that place that people volunteer at, youth groups will go there. So, do you have any idea how many volunteers go through the place in a year?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Oh absolutely. In fact, I love spending time with the volunteers because they are so very important to us. We had 10,000 volunteers last year, cumulatively, 165,000 hours. I’ve put a price tag on that, $4 million.
Cy Kellett:
Wow.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
And so, which means Cy, that if I had not had the benefit of those volunteers, those great volunteers, I wouldn’t have had the money to really have provided the services that they’ve provided. So, they’re extremely important to us.
Cy Kellett:
And now, it’s called Father Joe’s Villages for those who are not familiar with it, because of Father Joe, who is himself kind of just a larger than life San Diego character. A priest of the Diocese of San Diego, he was put in charge of this St. Vincent DePaul undertaking years ago and he turned it into the Villages, and then they named it after him. And I’m guessing probably they named it after him because you can raise a lot of money with his name. I don’t know.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Well, that was part of it. And also, because he is so iconic and people have come to think of that village as his village.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, yeah. So, he used to not really talk about homeless people. His word was neighbors in need. What is that about him, first of all, as a Catholic priest in the community he was a wonderful reflection of the Catholic faith, but how has that neighbors in need idea fit in with that?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
It’s extremely important. I mean, we are brothers and sisters, right? That’s what we are.
Cy Kellett:
What kind of Catholic are you?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
One to another and including those who are on the streets. Those are so very, very vulnerable. We, as a church, if we’re for nothing else, we’re for the poor. I mean, we see that time and time again in Scripture, in the gospels. To whom was Jesus reaching out? The outcasts, whether it was the leper or the woman caught in adultery or so many different situations. He visited a tax collector’s house. He scandalized constantly. And this is the Lord and Savior who we follow. And so we similarly should, in a sense, be scandalizing out there just like he was, in a good way. So, we need to take care of those who are vulnerable.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
So, these are neighbors, these are our neighbors, and where should we see our neighbors? Should it be okay for us as a community to have our neighbors on the street suffering? Or should we provide the services that they need, including housing, so that then they truly are neighbors just like our neighbors next door? They would have their own dwelling and they would have the services that they need in order to retain that dwelling. So, that’s the whole concept between neighbors in need.
Cy Kellett:
I feel like maybe we Catholics though, we’re not distinct enough in that way. I mean, Father Joe certainly was and lots of the folks at the Villages are, but I wonder if you experienced this as well. There’s some negativity towards the poor, even within the Catholic church, that people will blame. These people just want to drink all day or do their drugs or this and that. And that kind of gives us permission not to be distinctive in the way, to be scandalizing in the way you’re talking about.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
It’s interesting. I look at it the direct opposite, because I look at it we should not be judging. And again, who do we take the example? Our example is Christ. All of these individuals with whom he interacted, he didn’t judge them. When they came to him, what did he do? He extended the hand, and for the most part what he was extending was love and charity. And so, he wasn’t judging them. And then in so doing, he was drawing them to whom? Not only to himself, but to God our Father. I mean, because that was his whole purpose, and that is our purpose. So, we’re not there to judge. I mean, should we be looking at these individuals were are on the streets and saying, “Oh, they brought it on themselves.” Why? Because of substance abuse or because they’re lazy or whatever it is. If we truly are Christians, and we look towards Jesus and how he acted with individuals, we shouldn’t be judging. We should just be extending that love and that charity.
Cy Kellett:
And so that’s the idea, that you’re not just a cot for people to crash on, and that strikes me that that comes from that very Catholic idea, shared by people of goodwill all over, we haven’t patented it, but the idea that a human being is a creature with great dignity. And so, it’s not just go lay down over there. But you have, what is it that you try to do with this idea that it’s like a continuum of care. You’re going to take care of not just… well, you’re going to take care of the immediate need, but it’s not going to stop there.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s right. That’s not the end game in a sense. And that’s why what we do, it’s a good term you’re using, continuum of care, that’s what we use as well. So, when an individual comes in to us, we don’t take a cookie cutter approach. Every individual situation is different. Their life experiences have been different. So when they come in, we assess their situation. We have a health clinic. We’re blessed to have our health clinic and we have relationship with the university, UCSD Medical school. There’s a dual residency that they have and their one and only clinical site is at Father Joe’s Villages. So, their residents come in and this is where they train, and we’ve benefited that our clients have benefited because a lot of those who come to us have mental health issues.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
So, that’s been helpful there, or we have our addiction and treatment center. So, on the health side, you can’t do anything if you don’t have your health. And so, part of the assessment is, are there health needs here? And so, we help them in that regard. If you’ve been chronically homeless, odds are that you have a higher incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes. And so, we deal with that and we try to bring those things under control. Then of course, in order to be able to gain an apartment and retain it, what do you need? You need income. Well, that income, some of it comes through disability checks because some of these individuals are disabled. A lot of it comes, frankly, from employment. People think that those who are out there and are homeless don’t have employment. A good number of them do.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
They’re just underemployed because it’s so very expensive to live in a community like San Diego. So, we help them gain the skills. We have sector-based training as an example. We’ve gone out there into the market and we’ve surveyed what employers need and we’ve come back and developed curriculums. So, we got a culinary arts program, and we’ve put out actually great chefs that work in restaurants and casinos and the like. We have a property management program and we’ve trained property managers on the hospitality side. They’re housekeeping, they’re security guards. We have a security guard force. So, we’ve decided let’s develop a program along those lines because it’s needed out there. Not only for our benefit, but in order to train our clients to become security guards. Our certificates are being recognized by employers. And so, they’re going out there and they’re gaining employment. This is very, very key in helping them to get on their feet.
Cy Kellett:
That’s wonderfully creative, too.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Of course, of course. And it’s all for the purposes of being able, for the end game, because the end game is not for them to stay with us. It’s great, as you say, that we take people off the streets in the immediacy. It helps sanitary conditions and the like, but they can’t stay in temporary measures forever. The end game is having an apartment. And so, we prepare them for that, including the building out of affordable and permanent supportive housing, which we have in our mix as well. So, we’re blessed to have the full spectrum of what an individual needs. And that’s because it was determined years and years ago that if we provide certain services and we expect these individuals to go elsewhere for additional services, they won’t. They’re not going to make it for various reasons. We’re really the only services provider in Southern California that has the full spectrum of these services, and we’re blessed to be able to do that.
Cy Kellett:
It’s interesting as you say that, you talk about all those volunteer hours. You mentioned the medical school at UCSD, a secular institution. It gives you that feeling of this Catholic institution that this priest, Father Joe, has built up, as being just yeast, just leaven in the world. And everybody else gets to come and be part of the bread. You don’t have to be Catholic to do it, but it’s a very inclusive model. If you’re a person of goodwill and you’ve got something to offer, come in and share it here.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s correct. I mean, we have people of all faiths who are employed with us who are team members, and we serve people of all faiths and no faiths. I mean, we serve them not because they’re Catholic, we serve them because we’re Catholic and that’s what we’re called to do. Again, why? Because from whom do we take our example? And it all continues to come back to Christ, not that we’re out there proselytizing. In fact, Cy, we have Catholic mass on our campus. We have a chapel, but we also have ministers from all other denominations who come in and they have their services also with us for those who are there.
Cy Kellett:
But you don’t let Baptists in. Just kidding.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
We let everyone in, Cy. That’s all right. Okay.
Cy Kellett:
Okay so, all right, so here you are, this leaven in the world, and it started in the fifties, but then in the seventies and eighties, Father Joe built it into this extraordinary thing and it has become a model. He was featured on 60 Minutes because it became a model for how you do this. And a very successful model. But what about the… Okay, so I’m going to give you the critique, which is you’re dealing with symptoms but not causes. Because we have a society, I mean California just to be frank, is a very unjust society. It’s not arranged to be affordable for families. It’s not arranged to be affordable for the working person. You talk about the person who has a job but can’t afford housing. We have a tremendous housing shortage here. And without blaming anybody, I mean, we’re all part of California, so how do we move on that front so that the housing market isn’t crushing people so that they end up with you?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Right, right. And by the way, it’s not just as it relates to those who are on the streets. There are those who have never been on the streets and are just hanging on by their fingernails. And some of those cross our doors actually, because it gets more and more expensive and so they fall into homelessness, something they would never have imagined would have happened. And yet it does happen. Here in San Diego, we have the lowest rental vacancy rate in the nation. We’re tied with Los Angeles. It’s about 3.2%. That means, Cy, that no sooner does an apartment come on the market it gets snatched up. Now, is it going to get snatched up by one of our clients? Well, it’s hard for that to happen, especially when you couple that with the fact that the average one-bedroom apartment is $1,800.
Cy Kellett:
Oh man.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
So, the combination of that is toxic for our population. So, that’s why the introduction of affordable housing is so very, very critical. Here, we talk about California as a whole and what I’ve said, I think, pertains across the board to the West Coast. Here in San Diego, in the last six years we’ve lost 10,000 SROs, single room occupancies.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, was it because they get developed into something more expensive?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
They get developed into market rate. And that’s because when they were put in place 55 years ago, they had 55 years as a lifespan and then they didn’t have to stay affordable housing. So, people who own those now, and it’s gotten very expensive here, they converted to market rate. That loss has been a tremendous hit to individuals here who were utilizing that, that coupled with the fact that we’re not building out affordable housing fast enough. So, that’s why you probably heard that a year ago I announced, on the part of Father Joe’s Villages, that we would be building out 2000 affordable housing units throughout the next four to five year period of time and that’s extremely aggressive.
Cy Kellett:
It sounds aggressive, like who builds 2000 units?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
No one has yet, and no one ever has but we’re going to do it and we’ve been working very diligently at that. That is through the acquisition of existing motels and refurbishing them and turning them into units and also building out new construction. These tents, you’ve probably heard about these bridge shelter tents that have been put up in the city of San Diego, one of them is on our property. And on that site this time next year, the tent will be taken down and God willing, we’re praying, that we’ll break ground there on a 14 story building, 407 units.
Cy Kellett:
Wow.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That is going to be the change maker in this town. But that’s important for us to do. Now, it takes a lot of money. It takes a lot of conviction. We’ve been working through all the entitlement processes to kind of get all our ducks lined up in order. God is making it all come together. The finance side is another aspect, about 75 to 80% of that building will be publicly funded, but it means that we have to go through various sources in order to obtain that funding and it’s very tedious and involved but we go from one to the other. And then, there’s the philanthropic portion of that. So, we have to raise some money as well. So yeah, but that will make a tremendous difference.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, it will. When you think about 10,000 units that’s at least 10,000 people who got no place to live because those units just disappeared. They went up into the… but is this kind of construction of affordable housing, will that ultimately provide relief at that end of the market? It’s that thing where the person is hanging on by their fingernails. They’re a good person, they’re working, they’re trying, and probably a family situation and all that, but the California market just keeps making it that much harder for them. That person falls into homelessness. Can we get it to a place where that’s not happening, where people can make it?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Yeah, I think we can. I think, now is it easy and will it happen overnight? Absolutely not. But I think what we need is, as a community now, we need to do a better job of strategically approaching this. I mean, what we lack here as a community is a strategic plan. I mean again, as you mentioned, mine is a business background. So, an endeavor of this nature needs a vision and a strategic plan. We have to kind of assess where we are as a community, and then a strategy for getting to the end game. The end game being not that people won’t fall into homelessness, I mean, we’ll always have the poor. I mean, Jesus himself tells us that. But that we have an infrastructure in place as a community so that we can keep that from happening through diversion, as an example, as much as possible, and when it does happen that there are resources in place to deal with that in short order so that people don’t become chronically homeless.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
I believe that that can happen, but it takes a lot of moral conviction, Cy, and it takes the realization that resources have to be put against this. And if we do that as a community, then yes, we can truly put our arms around this. In the absence of that we’ll be that hamster in that wheel that keep going around and around in a circle. So, from my end I keep pushing in that direction and trying to convince others that that’s the way to go.
Cy Kellett:
And what you said, moral conviction, meaning that you’ve got to kind of build up a moral case that the community goes, “Yeah, we’ve got to do this.”
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s right. And it’s not just a moral case it’s an economic case. I mean, economically this is impactful to our community, the homelessness is. I mean, if you think about conventions that want to come into town, then if they see that we have an extremely bad problem as far as those who are on the streets, that’s going to keep them from coming into town. There are economic implications to this as well. We have the fourth largest homeless population in the United States.
Cy Kellett:
Do you have any sense that might be because of the weather in part? I mean, since it’s easier to-
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That obviously is impactful as well, but that’s not the primary reason. A lot of people do ask me that, and the reality is that the statistics have shown that that’s not a primary reason for people. I mean, 80% of the individuals, 75 to 80% of the individuals who are homeless here in San Diego, fell into homelessness while here. And so, it’s not as if they fell into homelessness elsewhere and-
Cy Kellett:
And then said we have to go where it’s warm.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s right. That’s not the case. And so, that’s part and parcel of it, but there’s mental health reasons. There are a lot of people, we have the second largest veteran’s homeless population in the United States. I mean, we’re a military town, so that’s very impactful. But these numbers are not getting any better. I mean, they’re pretty much year to year, last year versus this year, they’ve pretty much have stayed stable, and that’s not a good thing. We need to start driving them down.
Cy Kellett:
What about the NIMBY thing? Do you ever get that from people? They just like, “It’s wonderful work, just don’t do it near me.”
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Oh my gosh, yes.
Cy Kellett:
Is that pretty much your life story?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
You hear it a lot and I understand, that’s where our tagline… neighbors, they’re neighbors, and you start viewing them as neighbors and not just the opposition, in a sense. I’ll give you an example. There’s a group down in the East Village, it’s a village where Father Joe’s villages is, and a lot of homeless services are down in that area, as you can imagine, because that’s where the homeless are. And so, there’s a group down there of business leaders who initially, when we started talking about that 14 story building and putting it up, they were opposed. And then over time, because we work with them, we constantly keep the lines of communication open, and over time they’ve come to realize that this is really going to positively be impactful to this community and they now are endorsing our plan.
Cy Kellett:
Oh, isn’t that wonderful? Yeah.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Yeah. So I mean, it happens. You just have to work with it. People feel threatened sometimes without even knowing their threat. They feel either there’s violence here potentially or theft, or even a lowering of my property value, whatever it is. And so, we work with that.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, yeah. And it seems to me that when a volunteer comes to Father Joe’s Villages and a neighbor in need comes to Father Joe’s Villages, they both get something out of that experience. It seems to me more and more, we all need, which is to be less alone and less alienated from others, to have human contact is getting to be such a rarity. And it seems like you provide that.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Well, yeah. In fact, you bring up an interesting point. This whole social media thing, and texting as an example, I worry about our young people because their interactions are all on this machine and they text and this. There’s nothing wrong with texting, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I wonder if social skills and the development of those, and really staying connected in a more personal way. In any case, I’ll tell you, I have volunteers constantly who tell me, “I’m getting so much more out of this than I know I’m giving.” Yet on the other side of it, those who are being served are so appreciative about the contact.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
I mean, you can walk down the street as an example, and what most individuals who fall into homelessness will tell you, is that they have become invisible. Individuals don’t want to make even eye contact. So, when you take the opportunity to make eye contact and to greet them in the morning and to ask their name, as an example, then again you start to humanize them because they are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters because a lot of times they feel de-humanized.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah. It strikes me that our Pope, Pope Francis, he talks about a church going out to the margins. And you’re a deacon and you can, I mean, I suppose as a deacon you can stay in a parish kind of doing your Sunday preaching and sacraments and that kind of thing just as we all can. Laity can, priests can, but now you find yourself in this situation where you spend your working day in a place that most people would say that’s the margins. Do you have a greater kind of appreciation for what the Pope is saying to us, to go be a church going out to the margins?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Oh, absolutely. And we’re all, even if you’re in a parish, let’s say, and not necessarily out physically providing food for those who are poor and on the streets, even as clergy in our own parishes, we find a lot of brokenness. There’s brokenness all over.
Cy Kellett:
No shortage.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
No shortage of that, right, and me included. And so, you always are in a position, the Lord always puts you in a position where you’re able to be impactful in that way. Through charity, through mercy. I mean, you mentioned that we don’t have a monopoly on mercy. If you think of even the other monotheistic religions of Islam and our Jewish brethren, mercy is at the heart of what they’re about. Just like mercy is at the heart of what we’re about. And I think that’s a recognition of the brokenness in all of our lives. And so yes, I’m working most definitely at the margins there, but it depends on how you find the margins. I mean, the margins are kind of all over. This is just a different type of margin.
Cy Kellett:
Oh, what an interesting way of looking at it. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, it’s a weird kind of phenomenon of the modern world that people feel that they are not at the center of it. Even if you’re home alone, we have this epidemic of loneliness at home, or we have like as you said, the social media kind of epidemic or, which I’m sure you see a great deal of this, this opiate epidemic. You can just see that people just need to be comforted and sometimes the opiates will do that. Not in a healthy way, but it’ll do that. Do you see Father Joe’s Villages as a place that brings people together in that way? I mean, that seems to be the fundamental Christian thing is bringing people together. That’s what Jesus, he goes around gathering people up. Do you see that?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, fulfillment is what I think people are… people are looking for fulfillment in life. And a lot of them, in the absence of something of really of substance, where do they find the fulfillment? They may find that in opiates. They may find it in so many other… pornography, that’s plaguing our society as well. There’s so many things. And at the end of the day though, the ironic thing is, that at the end of the day, they’re not fulfilled, because that doesn’t fulfill you. We know that.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
We know that doesn’t fulfill you. And so, but it becomes addictions for them. I mean, these young people and into their twenties, I heard just this morning on the news that these youngsters, I’ll call them, and young adults, are becoming addicted to games, these video games. Truly, where they’re spending almost 20 hours of the day on this stuff, and it’s a true addiction. And again, that’s not fulfilling them. And so, it’s diverting that. So, in our situation when you come together, when you bring volunteers together, as an example, even our own team members, and then you bring individuals who are suffering for very real reasons, that gives you fulfillment. Because at the end of the day, if we’re making a connection with another human being and we’re making a difference, a positive difference in their lives, that truly brings fulfillment.
Cy Kellett:
Deacon Jim Vargas is the chief executive officer. Is that right?
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s right.
Cy Kellett:
The CEO of Father Joe’s Villages. You can find out about your website…
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Is neighbor.org. Very easy to remember, neighbor.org. Our 800 number is 1-800-HOMELESS.
Cy Kellett:
And you’ll find out all about the great work they do and you probably wouldn’t turn down a donation or two to help build this housing project or any of these other projects.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
That’s the only way we do it. I mean, one of the frustrating things of nonprofits is that you may have had a great subsequent year, let’s say December 31st, and you say, “Oh, we’ve made all this money for our services.” On January 1st, the bank account is zero and you have to build up the coffers again. So, it’s a constant struggle for us. Yes, donations are extremely important. We can only do what we do through the generosity of those who are out there and our benefactors. So, household goods, automobiles that we auction, boats that we auction, specialty items, sometimes jewelry and so forth. Whatever it is. We have retail stores where people can come and buy and as a result we turn those dollars into services. I never turn away cash, Cy. Cash is good.
Cy Kellett:
Okay.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Cash is good.
Cy Kellett:
Good to know.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
So, it’s all very, very important. And honestly, we could not do it without the generosity of the community.
Cy Kellett:
All right, neighbor.org is where you can find out all about Father Joe’s Villages and their ongoing kind of continuing revolutionizing of the way we care for our neighbors and needs. Deacon Jim Vargas, thanks again.
Deacon Jim Vargas:
Oh my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Cy Kellett:
And thanks to all of our listeners here at Catholic Answers Focus. If you enjoy Catholic Answers Focus, tell your friends about it, and they can sign up for Radio Club where they’ll get weekly announcements about Catholic Answers Focus just by going to Catholicanswerslive.com. Catholicanswerslive.com and sign up. Thank you so much. We’ll see you next time on Catholic Answers Focus.