In the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, he suggests that one should “begin with the end in mind”. The endpoint for The Centaur Project is an intentional cooperative community where up to 100 resident members, recruited from the street, can live, work, and care for one another. This Centaur Project website goes into detail about the thoughts behind the project, and provides resources to find answers to questions.
Having come this far, the next step is to invite a core group of about 10 volunteer advisors to build a framework of how the Resident Member Lodge might best operate. It is important to note that this project is not like a foster care program, whereby participants will “age out”. An online Digital Lodge, with no residents, would function as a resource to connect unhoused local needs to available resources. It would also function as a bulletin board for news and information in such a way that once resident members join the physical Lodge, it will become the communication backbone.
Once the framework is far enough along, the advisors will be tasked with arranging suitable accommodations for the first resident, who will be the first member to help build, sustain, and grow The Project. The “unhoused” are not the problem; they are the solution. The location selected does not need to be the final location; only the expectation of continued shelter is sought.
Resident members should be of good character, kind, free of debilitating vices, and able to contribute to the building, sustaining, and growth of the project. It is expected that resident members will have 8 hours of secure sleep each day; 8 hours of personal free time, 8 hours devoted to the needs of The Lodge. There are no charges to the resident members for anything received, but there is an expectation that outside money received by the member be largely donated to The Project. This is not a charity; it is a working community of mutual benefit. Donations received will be used exclusively to build, sustain and grow the community. Everyone involved is a volunteer. There are no salaries paid. It is expected that everyone donate what they can, and take only what they need.
As the resident membership grows, everyone becomes involved in the process of building, sustaining and growing the community lodge. This is a democracy. Some will contribute more, some less than others. The widow’s mite is no less important than the rich man’s donation.
Open letter to the Escondido Mayor and City Council
I have a home in Escondido where the so-called “homeless” virtually camp out in my front yard. I propose to invite some of them to instead, camp out in my backyard. Yes, my backyard. These are fellow humans who are largely regarded by society as “un-people” because they are un-profitable.
They are unprofitable to landlords, so become un-sheltered and un-washed.
They are unprofitable to food establishments, so become un-nourished.
They are unprofitable to healthcare systems, so become un-healthy.
They are unprofitable to purveyors of mailboxes, so become un-deliverable.
They are unprofitable to charities, so become un-charitable.
I have the personal resources to build a first portable locking sleeping unit, camping shower, camping toilet, and camping kitchen, behind a residential fence, with a gate. Together with the first resident, we will find the resources to build a second, and so on. In an unused space in my backyard, we can accommodate six, at no cost to the taxpayers.
Lemon Grove is building a temporary shelter with 60 sleeping units, at a taxpayer expense of $13 Million, plus a $3 Million annual operating cost. It will be run as both a charity (no resident contribution) and as a foster care for adults (limited to a few months shelter). We are working toward building, sustaining and growing a voluntary cooperative community with the end goal of a fully equipped dormitory-like building, run by and for the residents for as long as they are willing and able to contribute. Not a charity. Not a foster care.
The so-called homeless are not the problem, they are the solution.
Visit TheCentaurProject.org for background and answers.
Fred Jacobsen
Escondido, Ca
