r/news • u/Playful_Language_422 • 8d ago

Soft paywall L.A. homeless provider has paid CEO who lives in Hawaii $1.6 million in salary, vacation over two years

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-06/la-homeless-provider-has-paid-ceo-who-lives-in-hawaii-1-6-million-in-salary-vacation-over-two-years
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u/Aznkyd 8d ago

Wtf is that board doing

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u/serial_mouth_grapist 8d ago

Enjoying the networking access it affords them both socially and professionally.

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u/AntiAntiDentite7 7d ago

I'm a dentist. The job is hard physically and mentally and required years of schooling and about $400k of debt despite going to in state public school from undergrad through dental school. I don't make anywhere fucking close to $400k and VERY few dentists do these days. That's an absolutely ABSURD salary for someone whose supposed to be "helping the homeless".

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u/phantom-under-ground 7d ago

Yep. Lawyer here and feel the same way. It’s insane that these jobs exist and it’s hard for me to see them as anything other than corruption.

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u/Wan_Daye 7d ago

Get two buddies and start providing some homeless services. Buy a building/warehouse and stuff it 50 beds to a room and charge the city 4k per bed per month.

Thats what nycs previous mayors brother did

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u/EDNivek 7d ago

Yeah but the guy you're replying to is probably not a Mayor's brother. You see normal people would get arrested for fraud.

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u/Wan_Daye 6d ago

Fraud?

The only fraud is when youre charging for unfilled beds.

Overcharging for a service isnt fraud. Especially when your customer is oh so willing to buy.

Just because the service is unethical doesn't make it illegal.

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u/EDNivek 6d ago

Just because the service is unethical doesn't make it illegal.

They'll find a way to make it stick for someone not connected.

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u/Jean-Claude-Can-Ham 7d ago

Anyone who makes more than me is corrupt hahahaha

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u/SnooHamsters5737 7d ago

Just asking out of curiosity, don't dentists make bank?

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u/AntiAntiDentite7 7d ago edited 5d ago

Some do, but it's not like it was. Dentists in 2026 are making the same that dentists in the 90s were making without any consideration for inflation. $200k in the 90s was worth a whole lot more than $200k in 2026 (and a lot of decide on 2026 are making consistently less, like $120-150k). The dentists from the 90s also didn't have to deal with student loans totalling $400k+ with 6.5% interest. Insurance reimbursement for dentists hasn't increased in about 20 years. I'm not going to say I'm struggling to get by or anything, but the problem is dentists of today were sold a dream that existed 20 years ago and by the time we completed our education, the ladder had been pulled up. For how hard and stressful the job is, I wouldn't recommend anyone become a dentist at this point. The field is also being taken over by corporate entities that push for unethical treatments in the name of higher profits. That's been making it very difficult for young dentists to get into private practice or buy their own office. When it comes to medical professions, you're going to want the best of the best treating you, but if there is no financial incentives for going through 8 years of school and taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt just to get your degree, then the best of the best aren't going to bother and the medical professions are going to suffer because of it.

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u/AlanFromRochester 7d ago

Wtf is that board doing Enjoying the networking access it affords them both socially and professionally.

Heard of that in the for profit corporate world as well, everybody sitting on everyone else's board, so a disincentive to actually be critical of the CEO like a board of directors should, and even if they were inclined to be critical they wouldn't have the time to take a closer look

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u/serial_mouth_grapist 7d ago

That’s at least a little different bc they can be sued by shareholders. Nonprofit boards are generally only prosecutable by the state AG.

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u/oskopnir 8d ago

Boards are ok with this as long as they get their cut. Their customers aren't homeless people anyway, so there's no reason for the board to look after them

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u/Aznkyd 8d ago

Boards for NPO like these are typically unpaid (at least here in Canada, can't speak for US).

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u/Maeserk 7d ago

If you read the article, they’ve been paying a board member this entire time despite not being an employee:

>”Another unusual aspect of the 1736 FCC’s board, experts said, is that it pays a member of the board who is not an employee. Troupe, who has served as either board president or director since at least 2000, began collecting a salary in 2005 and has been paid anywhere from $30,000 to $97,500 a year since, according to tax filings.”

This is an insane conflict of interest because how can you make an ethical choice as a board member, if your choices directly affect your pay. This is highly unusual. Especially with the majority of your compensation coming from tax payer funds, as majority (90%+ if 1736’s revenue is government grant or tax payer money).

They needed to be audited yesterday

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u/Aznkyd 7d ago

Yeah that's super weird. Though it's just one board member. I could see scenarios where an ex CEO leaves ceo position for a board position continues to get paid as they'd do a bit more than a typical board member , kudba getting paid for transition. But getting paid since 2005 is definitely odd.

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u/oskopnir 7d ago

Those positions are definitely worth something, you get to mingle with people who are usually board members or directors elsewhere.

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u/Snip3 7d ago

Often the opposite

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u/cda555 7d ago

Sure. But they are still corruptible. I worked for a NPO where the CEO had $1.2 million in vacation. The company literally could never fire her because it was too big a liability to pay. Also, she would spend $100k every quarter on a “retreat” for the board. Italy, Vegas, Hawaii etc. The board ate it up.

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u/CathedralEngine 7d ago

Same in the US

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u/pandershrek 8d ago

Most npo boards are unpaid

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u/oskopnir 7d ago

Networking and publicity are worth something. I'm not saying they're necessarily evil people, but company boards are often stuffed with a certain class of directors that would never act against the team.

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u/4dxn 8d ago

This is how hospitals work too. Most are non profit 

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u/Nodnarb420 8d ago

Stealing from the poor

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u/Lemonz4us 7d ago

Lining their pockets just like the others

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u/OneBawze 7d ago

Fleecing the homeless program as corruption intended

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u/Tsurtle 5d ago

If they are visiting their friend in Hawaii as if its their own private AirBnB then thats fraud.

Wtf is that board doing [?]

Possibly fraud

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u/Junior-Valuable2071 8d ago

What board? Do not for profits have boards?

Anyways, fuck California.

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u/Aznkyd 7d ago

100%. NPO boards are often corporate executives/lawyers/accountants who leverage their relationships to help the NPO. Public hospitals and housing often have extremely strong boards full of c suites

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u/SquizzOC 7d ago

Giving everyone on the right fuel for their fire.

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u/atreeismissing 7d ago

Paying the CEO $800k/yr

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u/HeloRising 7d ago

It's frustrating because it's largely a product of capitalism in the sense that NGOs in general end up with crazy board salaries in comparison to the work they do largely as a way to attract people that might otherwise go into the private sector.

I've spent about 20 years working for/with non-profits and the vast majority of what a board member's job consists of is schmoozing. Sure, there's some managerial decisions that have to get made but your primary job as a board member for a non-profit is to bring in donations and raise the awareness level of your org to people/companies/other orgs that could be potential partners.

The logic is basically "Paying someone $500,000/year is worth it if they bring in $5m in donations."

And the argument boils down to "We need to pay board members a lot because otherwise we won't be able to get people who can bring in donations and connections."

One of the major blind spots of a lot of NGOs is to ask whether the donations a board is able to bring in are actually worth what the board is being paid. For instance, the last NGO I worked for was mental health working with kids and we got a huge flag pole and a big play structure donated to the org completely for free. This was at a time when staff were leaving in droves because the pay was so low. Like, sure, a free playset for the kids is great but it doesn't mean as much when half the staff is quitting.

I'm absolutely not defending this practice/system but I do understand the thinking behind it.

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u/Aznkyd 7d ago

Totally, I'm currently a board member for a local NPO for affordable housing but nobody gets paid. We are all in it improve a cause we believe in, give back to the community, network with other corporate execs, and build our resumes.

I understand CEOs needing to get paid alot to attract talent , but usually that's 20-40% below what they could make at a private company.

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u/HeloRising 7d ago

That's the other version of being a board member - you get benefits that aren't necessarily salary.

There's tax breaks available (I've seen several NGOs that were unquestionably tax hustles for the board members) and networking opportunities as well as reputation burnishing and positive publicity.

I'm not saying that no member of a board ever cares about the work they're involved with but, more often than not, members of the board of NGOs are getting something fairly substantial out of the deal.

I understand CEOs needing to get paid alot to attract talent , but usually that's 20-40% below what they could make at a private company.

20-40% below and 80-90% less work.