Former Valero Energy Corp. CEO Bill Greehey now is chairman of the board of Haven for Hope. Photo by Joni Simon

Panhandlers in San Antonio are going to be a thing of the past, Bill Greehey, chairman of the board of Haven for Hope, told the Dominion Rotary Club on July 29.

The former CEO of the Valero Energy Corp. said the project he’s spearheading will clear the streets of ragtag beggars and bag ladies.

The Haven for Hope complex he’s personally contributed $25 million to is expected to be completed in December and open in January. It’s located 1.5 miles from downtown and encompasses 300,000 square feet with eight acres set aside for future affordable housing.

“He’s a Rotarian at heart,” Sam Gott, president-elect of the Dominion Rotary Club, said of the current chairman of NuStar Energy Corporation.

“This is an opportunity to help people and save lives in our own backyard. The project will act as a model for every city. If this was in Somalia, we would be jumping through hoops to participate.“

Gott asked his fellow Rotarians to contribute what totals $3 a week or $450 to be paid over three years.

“Many of you give $3 a week to people on the street,” Gott said. “You can use that money to keep them off the street.”

Gott said three Dominion Rotary Club members have pledged $300,000.

“That’s going to make it easy for us. This is voluntary and not a district mandate, but the project can’t be completed without your help,” he said. “We need to lead the way.”

This is the right way to do it, Greehey told the Rotarians. He said in the past, people have gone about taking care of the homeless problem the wrong way. He scoffed at the practice of dishing out food to the destitute and said that feeding programs will cease once the complex is up and running.

“The worst thing you can do is feed the homeless,” he said. “What we need to do is get them into a transformation program.”

Greehey has collected staggering statistics on the cost of caring for the homeless living on the streets of San Antonio. For instance, the county jail spends about $40 million a year to incarcerate vagrants.

“The jails are full of people who haven’t committed crimes,” Greehey said. “We’re going to eliminate that.” Vagabonds will be given a choice to go to jail or go into the transformation program, where they’ll be expected to work 40 hours a week or receive training.

“If they don‘t want to go through the program, they’ll probably go to jail a few times and eventually have to leave San Antonio,” he said.

During one of his adventures on the streets, Greehey talked to two former vets, a group that makes up 30 percent of the homeless population. They were living in a pup tent in one of the city’s parks.

“They’d been living like that for 20 years,” he said. “That’s what they wanted to do.”

For those incorrigible street people who insist on sleeping under the stars, the complex, off Interstate 10 at Frio Street, will have an area for that. They’ll still be offered all the advantages, including medical and dental care. Childcare services and even a kennel will be located on the premises.

“Many of the homeless have pets and won’t come into the program without them,” he said.

In what Greehey calls “one stop shopping,“ participants of the transformation program will receive medical and dental care at the complex.

Greehey told the Rotarians about a time when he found a couple in their early 40s huddled under a bridge; the man listless and barely conscious.

His partner told Greehey her mate had recently had an operation at the county hospital and had just been released.

“In and out of the hospital is a vicious cycle for many of the street people and it’s costing taxpayers millions,” he said.

There are no records at the county hospital on what they spend on caring for the homeless, but according to Greehey, the medical staff knows every single one of them.