From New York Times, unlike other borrow this, as cities across the country, struggle with a crisis of homelessness and as new Crisis threatens to grow because of the ECB the fall out from the pandemic. The city has made two billion dollars a year committed to ensuring that everybody has a place to stay today. My Amy Julia Harris, how a system meant to help the most vulnerable people in New York has been left open to exploit asian and abuse

it's Thursday February eleven, so Amy Julia. How did you first get involved in this story? in July, twenty nineteen. I received an anonymous Tipp that was sent to the New York Times. That basically said you should look into this my name, is Victor Rivera who operates the network of homeless shelters and look into the way that he treats women and spends money. There was a little bit of a big tip and that peaked my interest and I wanted to tell

learn more an who did you turn out to be so? He is the head of a nonprofit called the Bronx parent Housing network, which is one of the largest nonprofits that operates homeless, shelters in New York City. The group has received two hundred and seventy four million dollars from the city since twenty seven team Tonawanda yards of its time, a ton of money and that enormous success is built in part on figure of errors, own personal, inspiring backstory victor. Thank you so much for joining us today. While it is really a pleasure and honour to be sitting here with Victor Rivera talked about his life story, I'm this housing, podcast called real t speak. Where do you want to start one? We go back to the beginning. You know bill the begin started in nineteen. Sixty five had just attend the age of five years old. From a hundred thirty eight student broke avenue as many people

all that in the Sixtys and Seventys. A hundred and thirty eight and broke out into the heart of the south. Bronx is probably the most inundated drug then in the country, and she said that he grew up. And a poor neighborhood in the South Bronx. I know is all the building ways to live in seventeen. Thirteen Taylor became condemn and my mother had to move into a shelter and lived in. A my shelter for a while in the Sixtys and Seventys, and what was that like was the environment, their scary. Why was scary? You know there was prostitution on nothing of an environment where a child should be raised in his was a single mother, and he said he grew up environment where drugs were very common as a kid he was so drugs? I would never glamorize their lifestyle, but at that time,

that's all. I knew and that he ultimately became addicted to crack. Cocaine himself and became homeless was arrested on a drug charge, went to jail and served a stint in on state prison, and when he got out, he saw bad to change his life September. First, nineteen. Ninety- I want thirty four in the afternoon that in the window over crackers- and I challenge the out of my understanding, who I call Jesus Christ and told him that I cannot stop getting high and that if he was the God My mother said that he was that he will take up. my desire to ever get high again until today of today, he he's kept their promise with me and became very involved with God and his church, which is how he started the Bronx

and housing network with a few other people from his church in two thousand, and one I want to tell people is that there is hope, and you have to have love and compassion for people and not just so he said that he is he's really dedicated his life to helping people who were in a similar situation that he had been growing up. There's only hope, when you believe- and you someone love in an opportunity. Thank you. So much bill has been an honour to say here, which Victor beautiful message, amazing story. Thank you so much for me. Here today and will see a next time until then,. That is a very compelling story, a story, salvation and redemption yeah. It is very compelling story and a lot of the people that I talk to. You said that that really

drew them in and struck them, but in the course of my investigation I found out that that wasn't the entire story There was this very robust network of former employees, if you knew all about vector of era and from the very beginning kind of told me here I'd who you think he is they kept time hitting on the same theme, which was that victory Vera had a problem when it came to women? a number of employees told me that vector of air was kind of like the Harvey Wine Steen of the Homeless shelter system and said that he used his position of power to prey on homeless. Women who are saying his shelters, so I I spent months tracking down several women who I had heard had to contend with inappropriate comments or sexual harassment or even worse,

and eventually through a lot of on the ground, referring and phone cause. I found a woman named Erika Square and would the Erika cartel. You Erika told me that she was about forty years old when she became homeless after she had gotten out of an abusive relationship and needed a new place to stay, and that's when she entered a Bronx parent housing network, shelter in twenty twelve and that's when she met vector of air. She said victory were told her about how he used to be homeless and had kind of turned around his life and had this inspiring life story, and she was very struck by that and she said that instantly put her at ease and felt very comfortable, on him, so they remained untouched for the next couple of months. Until one day victor driver told her hey, I've got us.

For you. You can move into my home. They lived there with my wife. Do you wanna be, then and Erica said that at this point she kind of jumped at that opportunity because she was looking to eventually get out of the shelter system there time limits for how long you can stay in temporary housing and it's really hard to find affordable, permanent housing, in New York City here so right. She thought she was really lucky and this seems like a great solution and she trusted Victor Vera. So so she moved in in twenty thirteen, and she said she had a beautiful apartment on the third floor, but the problem sort of started with Victor Rivera, whose tone she said shifted significantly towards her. She said that he became very flirtatious

and started making inappropriate comments about the way that she looked? You know he would start pinching her or trying to lift up her shirt. She said they comments about how she was very curvy and highlight larger women. She said that she was very taken aback by this by was trying to laugh it off and down plan and just kind of hopes. It wouldn't continue up until one night in in December, twenty sixteen she told me that something pretty graphic happened. She was in her apartment. She was by herself and her microwave broken started smoking. So she asked revert to come upstairs. yours and help her fix it, and she said at once he came in. He said he wanted to see a leak in her bedroom

So she was very apprehensive at this point. She said, but it sounded plausible, so she went into her bedroom with Victor Rivera and at that point she said that he turned off the lights and shoved her against the wall and began kissing her, and he asked her if she liked living in his home and then demanded that she give him oral sex, and she told me at this point as she was crying, that she was wondering if she could fight him off for what she should do and she sort of made the split second decision,

if she didn't want to be homeless and wanted to keep her housing. She would just go along with this, so she said, then she did it and she described it to me as a a sexual assault. She said that she had never felt so dirty or disgusted and said it was just a horrible bargain that she made After that she said that she was so traumatized and terrified of what had happened and of Victor Rivera that she slept with the knife under her pillow and promptly chair against her door. She said she rarely left her room and just lived in perpetual fear that he was going to. Margin and try to do this again. right inaccuracy lives. Right downstairs, re he'll have dragged down stairs and she said that

he always knew when she was by herself. So it was just a constant threat hanging over her of having to two maybe be subjected to abuse again and in the next couple of weeks. She said: that's exactly what happened, that Victor Vera, which would come up to her room and continue to pressure her for sex. He demanded that she sleep with him, but she said this time. She told him tat. She was going to do it and that he was married and had a wife and How could he do that and she refused and then in retaliation? She said that he said that he was going to affect her and ultimately moved her out of her or nice apartment on the third floor into a ground floor apartment in a year.

That was full of mould and she thinks that was in retaliation for not sleeping with them. How many cases like this did you find in your reporting? I found that Erika is not the only person There were ten women who had complained Victor Vera had sexually assaulted, or harass them in the last decade fight women were homeless at the time. One of the first incidents I heard of wise Twenty tat, ten of a young mother had entered a bronze parenthood our shelter and said that Victor Rivera head proposition turf for sex. She was incredibly perturbed by what had happened. I was scared of losing our housing. So, aside from tell

her case workers, she ain't, complainer, really escalate, died and just trying to keep your distance from vector Rivera. There were other women who also complained of similar patterns of them a rare that figure Rivero. What kind of signal up to them and the homeless shelters? Look them up and down and ask them if they they wanted to hang out and would promise them furs like upgrading their rooms in the shelter promising than that he could help them secure permanent thing, so housing was always kind of a leverage for sex is what they had told and did any of these women say that they had reported? these incidents. I could see why they might not given the power that he held over them. Literally, he holds the roof over their heads There was one woman who did complain to the city to permanent social services, which overseas homeless shelters in near

city telling them about. Mr, a very sexual harassment, but the complaint didn't really go anywhere. The city instead just referred. Her harassment complaint back To the Bronx parent Housing Network, where it was reported to Mr Rivera himself and all of the staff members who were tasked with investigating this ultimately reported to Victor Rivera, so Marta, the client who had complained, told me that nothing really happened and it was just dismissed. So she just focused on getting out of the shelter, and there are also two Employees who had complained of sexual harassment and assault either is one woman who said that vector Rivera had forced her to perform oral sex in a homeless shelter. She reported this to the police and soon after she received a four

Five thousand dollar settlement agreement that included a non disclosure agreement that barred her from talking about this publicly and soon after there is another employee who also said that factor of era had groped her and harassed her, who also complained to a state agency. She received a one hundred and thirty thousand dollar settlement agreement as well that we stop her friends fishing publicly. So basically, Victor Rivera is allowed to continue to operate this system, of shelters without any real accountability or punishment. That's right

In fact, he just gained even more power and prominence and city funding, and that sort of lead me to wonder if there was not a larger problem with here cities, entire homeless shelter system will be right. Back Verizon designed five g to make the things we do every day better with the coverage of five g nation wide millions of people can now work, listen and stream

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and need a bad in New York City City is required to house you in temporary housing and Halters there's a reason in New York City. You don't see massive ten encampments that you would see in places like San Francisco or LOS Angeles, because people often go into the shelter system says a result, nearest he spends more than two billion dollars a year to house homeless people and now their record. Seventy thousand homeless people in New York City said the shelter system has really ballooned, Rights are not legal right means that the city needs a massive, sheltered at work. The train and It relies predominantly on about seventy nonprofit groups to actually operate the shelters and the Bronx parent Housing network is one of the largest of those non profit groups that the city contracts, where And how did Victor Rivera group com

to be such a force in this system you're. A very used his back story to really get close to a lot of frogs politicians and his political clout grew especially As mayor, build the Plaza Yo Pledge to revamp the city is homeless, shelter system and launched a major initiative in twenty seventeen to open ninety near shelter sites, and that's why and vector of our really made his play and his non profit organization applied to run a number of those new sites and why, Multi million dollar contracts for reference in twenty twelve, the Bronx parent Housing network was bringing in about one million dollars in revenue and, more recently there are bringing in upper

of eighty one million dollars while alive the sources. I talk to. You said that, as the nonprofit spending greater said, it Victor various posts, well. What do you mean by that in the early years, he was just bring about sixty seven thousand dollars a year rate, lay. His salary has belonged to more than three. Thousand dollars a year and he bought himself. multiple homes. You know a home in the as mountains a massive home in stony point little bit nor through New York City, and he was driving a Mercedes, Benz least by his organization when a homeless, shelter, system least its leader a Mercedes bets yeah. They actually said that was it cheaper car than other ones that they were considering and their cars license. Plate was actually

they are nationals of the Homeless Services Organization, GPA Chan, o orgy, so the driver was quite flash it with his wealth and so I prefer starting to notice any of this how much money this network is now collecting. from the city and how large Victor There is starting to live as anyone monitoring this raising any flags yet There is actually a high ranking executive at the Bronx parent Housing network, who is very concerned who actually complained to the City Department of Social Services in twenty seventeen and said you really need to look into the way that picture of error is spending money. This is a big problem and vigour of vera heads and nepotism,

measures and conflict of interest. He was employing multiple family members. He was also rang for profit housing businesses alongside his non profit and those were intertwined, and the city called Victor a very in for a meeting and the cities that this is a big. No doubt you have to stop and they placed Bronx parent housing network on this special watch list. That's basically flagging financial, ones and improprieties at the organization inside. You need to clean up your act by Even though Dr Era, and the Bronx parent housing network or were on notice for all of these problems, the city continue. To give them more and more money and the problems continued So beyond this watch list, which you justice, it is pretty ineffective. Is there any system for monitoring regulating policing these non profit groups at the city

is giving so much taxpayers money to this watch list as one of the main tools that the city users to police, the shelter operators in my reporting. I got documents that show that ten of the seventy nonprofit two providers are actually on this special watch list for financial Muslims, but all of them continue to receive city money. That's a meaningful percentage of the providers being on list that signals that something the matter I think it's a really significant problem and the city you know, aside from internally flagging that they know about these things hasn't done much to really deal with them.

Several women came forward claiming they were sexually harassed and abused by Victor Rivera disturbing allegations revealed in the New York Times. Investigation that found for years were very engaged in financial and sexual, Miss Connell as the head of one. So after you uncover office the finance, questions and the alleged sexual assaults. What ends up happening to Victor Rivera, after our story was polished, mere build Lazo tweeted that the city has directed Bp Age in to hire and independent investigator too. Well, the plaza treated at that picture of era was not untouchable and, as a result, our story. He would ordering a probe of all homeless, shelter operators in New York City and the next day the Bronx district attorney is investigating criminally the allegation. The Bronx district attorney

He said that she was also opening a criminal investigation into vector vera after the allegations of sexual and financial abuse. Now Victor Vera denied any sort of impropriety. In a statement he sent to me, he called the allegations against him merit list, but still a few days after the story came out on its website? A statement from Bp Agents board about quote shocking, claim regarding Rivera the Board of directors of the Bronx parent Housing network also fired Victor Rivera, so he knows God has a job, and just a couple of days ago, it's very disturbing. It's very curbing don't applies. You had a press conference to do Victor Rivera here, has been fired by that organization and called it

Victor Rivera by name and said his actions were supported by us of that. I think the field has professionalized intensely, there's a lot more oversight, there's a lot more care and the city contracting process. Audio something still effectively defended the homeless, shelter system and said that Victor Rivera, in the Bronx parent Housing network was really just. One bad apple in an otherwise professional system, made up of people who really wanted to help homeless people and didn't think that there is a widespread problem busy right. I think it's a complicated question. You know, New York's homeless system was obviously star

with the best of intentions of coming out of this court order, that really wanted to help people and not see people dying and sleeping on the streets without a place to go and to be fair. There are parts of the shelter the storm that are working and helping people get back on their feet, which is exactly what supposed to happen in New York City as one of the biggest and most complicated shelter systems of anywhere in the country. So it is an enormous task to run it. well, and it's not going to be perfect, but I think why Victor Rivera in the Bronx parent housing now art show us is that if the homeless system doesn't have proper guard rails, the solution is not just to throw money at these nonprofit groups and hope that they do the right thing. Sigh think, New York, city, It is in this interesting spot where a sort of Hasta Russell with this

moral and legal mandate provide shelter but also ensure that, spare money is well spent, and you don't have people like vector of error there who can just abuse the system. Right, which countries of the question. is the city incapable of taking on a problem there. Enormous. Even the nations are we most powerful and wealthy city. I think the recent past to show that if there are specific, isolated problems that news organisations right about, they crackdown on those specific providers, but do not seem tremendously interested in looking into the shelter system and mass, so it's like Wakeham all, but I do. at the end of the day, what my sources are telling me in the case of Victor Rivera is

One of the only reasons that we saw such a swift response was because of their sexual abuse. Allegations had it just then financial abuse alot of people had told me. They think that nothing would have happened that well that so spread and common that they really would have been surprised. Had there been any significant response and they think it was the city just kind of forced to act because of how egregious their sexual abuse allegations were. I wonder if you have checked in with Erika, since your story ran and what has happened to her. Yes, so The day after the story ran. I took a copy of the newspaper to her apartment and talked to her in person about how she was feeling and I think she's feeling a lot. She both thanked me for getting her story out there, but also seemed

Sunlight overwhelmed by the secret that she had kept for so long is now out in the world, and she texted me the other day saying that she had heard the story on the new ass. She was in a cab and that really just landed. Her that this is real. in many ways this is a story about powerless tests and Erika was a purse. who never had a lot of power, but now is both proud of Herself- that also kind of terrified with what that means. In our she's living in the Bronx she's living in a community where Victor Rivera had so much power and so much cloud and and actions for so many years and she's worried about her safe

but also you know, told me that she was happy that, hopefully he won't be allowed to hurt anyone again Familiar. you re much. We appreciate your reporting and thank you for coming to the show thanks so much for having order. It back. You don't need to hear but how much life at home is changed. You already know, but how ways to make life at home a little better ego be make smart devices like motion in temperature, sensors, thermostats and a camera that are all connected through a service called haven and an app that connects Everything it's a hands off. Smart homeowner

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they're all arguments later today, tidies episode was produced by us. In Mitchell, Stella, TAN and Diana win. With help from I took a tongue and Nina potluck, it was evident, like then, walked the recent Anders an endless utopian and engineered by Chris. Would that's it for the daily I'm likeable bar see tomorrow, the piece of business is accelerating and workplaces. Connected by technology. The next generation of client engagement requires new ways to capitalize on more opportunities serving the global financial services. Industry brought ridge, settle, seven trillion dollars and trades per day.

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