Balanced Oversight • Real Opportunity • Dignity for Every Step
We’re advancing a new model for SafetyNet reform — one that rewards progress instead of trapping people in dependency. SafetyNet 2.0 combines education, employment, and housing stability into a clear, upward ladder that helps people move toward self-sufficiency.
This approach includes city-led recruitment of local development and landlord teams, the creation of tiny-home communities, performance-based fair market rents that reward well-managed properties, and a tenant ladder of success that mirrors the real housing market.
We believe real progress comes from participation. Our model embraces a broader definition of work — one that includes caring for your community as well as earning a paycheck. Cleaning shared spaces, helping with childcare, or serving on tenant councils all build pride and stability.
These contributions connect to a Ladder of Success, where residents advance through education, effort, and financial responsibility — from government-assisted housing to local landlord partnerships and ultimately, homeownership. It’s a system designed not to punish need, but to inspire hope and upward mobility.
The fall from society is a tragic process that often takes years and involves great loss that’s difficult to fully comprehend, and the next wave of AI-driven job displacement will put enormous pressure on housing assistance systems. We will need smarter programs in place before that happens — or millions could be left behind.
The Ladder of Success: A Path, Not a Trap
The current housing assistance system has no clear path upward — tenants are left to figure it out alone. The Ladder of Success provides structure and motivation. Each step upward reflects greater independence, contribution, and pride.
The ladder from bottom to top:
- Reentry & Supported Housing – for those exiting homelessness, incarceration, or crisis programs.
- Government-Assisted Projects – structured environments with education, cultural awareness, and community expectations.
- Performance-Based SAFMR Properties – privately owned units with HUD-aligned rents tied to quality, safety, and square footage.
- Tiny-Home Towns – locally governed communities with ownership opportunities and pride-based participation.
- Professionally Managed (Wall Street) Rentals – stable, well-run properties where good tenants thrive under fair, transparent systems.
- Local Landlords – small-scale owners who know their tenants and communities personally.
- Homeownership – the ultimate goal of independence and wealth building.
Education is key at every step — covering not only finances and property care, but also community culture, presentation, and shared responsibility. Respect, cleanliness, and participation are as vital as rent payments in rebuilding trust and opportunity.
Recognition, Pride, and the “One Good Man” Principle
SafetyNet 2.0 also includes a recognition system designed to inspire participation and pride. Residents could earn badges or certificates marking progress—indicators of reliability, community contribution, or readiness to advance to the next housing level. These become tangible symbols of accomplishment—something to strive for and something to keep.
We call this the “One Good Man” principle—the idea that one motivated person can influence an entire community. Veterans are particularly well-suited for these leadership roles, bringing discipline, example, and a sense of duty to their neighborhoods. When this culture of pride and accountability takes root, resentment, crime, and carelessness give way to hope and purpose.
At the same time, SafetyNet 2.0 recognizes the balance between compassion and enforcement. Wall Street landlords’ strict systems have produced stable, well-run housing but often at a human cost. A structured ladder system with visible progress—and earned recognition—would soften those edges by showing who is truly working to rise. Over time, both landlords and communities can see the difference, encouraging local acceptance and reducing the fear and bias that too often isolate assisted housing.
A Balanced Vision: Public Purpose, Private Strength
We’ve lived on both sides of wealth and poverty and have seen firsthand how housing assistance can fail both tenants and neighborhoods. Yet we also know how much potential exists when public purpose meets private strength.
Wall Street landlords are part of the solution. They bring capital, scale, and professionalism to a housing system long starved of both. When operated responsibly, they raise standards and expand access to better housing.
But policy alone isn’t enough — leadership must define how these systems work. HomePit’s role is to help shape that definition: rewarding performance, accountability, and dignity, not bureaucracy or exploitation.
No one but the most desperate person wants to live in government-run housing. I’ve seen families with vouchers decline them simply because the available options felt unsafe or demoralizing. That’s not a funding failure — it’s an environment failure.
City-led Investor Developer Landlord Teams
That’s why we propose city-led investor–developer–landlord teams to bring new local inventory online, balancing public oversight with private efficiency. These partnerships would bridge the gap between federal funding and market performance, producing housing that tenants can aspire to — not avoid.
Wall Street landlords have shown that professional management and data-driven screening can stabilize communities — but their methods can be cold and unforgiving. We can improve that model by keeping its structure and discipline while adding empathy, education, and second chances for tenants who are climbing the ladder.
Government should govern — not manage housing. Its best role is to set fair rules, oversee performance, and empower private and local partners to build communities that work. That’s a bipartisan path forward — one that keeps investors engaged, gives cities tools to expand inventory, and restores hope, dignity, and pride at every level of the housing ladder.
Reform, Balance, and the Future of Housing
Most of the reform America needs begins with government itself. Ineffective or corrupt governance often creates the very business abuses reformers later condemn. When government tries to fix those problems, its solutions too often become draconian and rigid, punishing both innovators and the people they intend to protect.
By contrast, private implementation—when ethical and transparent—is almost always an improvement. Yet the more government inserts itself into execution, the greater the chance of failure. Corruption within public agencies breeds reactionary enforcement, and when private partners try to adapt, they are often demonized—sometimes rightly so when profit outruns purpose.
Where Reform Should Begin
- Justice Reform: Enforce the laws we already have. Many housing abuses persist not from a lack of regulation, but from the unwillingness or corruption that prevents existing rules from being applied.
- Second-Chance Reform: Remove one-time, nonviolent felonies that block good tenants from moving up the housing ladder. A permanent scar for a temporary mistake only breeds hopelessness.
- Performance-Based Governance: Replace the “dump money and hope” cycle with adaptive, feedback-driven systems that evolve—just as modern manufacturing did. Efficiency and accountability must replace waste and inertia.
- Integrity in Public Service: Government must remove its bad actors. Many of the harshest, most dehumanizing policies trace back to individuals who act out of spite, greed, or power.
- Recognize Limits: Government’s record on implementation is notoriously poor. It is most effective when setting policy and least effective when administering it.
The best public outcomes come from partnerships with disciplined private operators, much like the defense sector—where oversight and capability coexist.
The Broader View | Pillars of Society
Reform is complex, but progress is possible. Humanity improves slowly, yet persistently, and housing reform can follow that same arc. A home—along with health and hunger—forms one of the three essential pillars of society. On that stool rests hope, the foundation of every stable civilization.
We are entering an era of massive disruption—driven by technology, automation, and artificial intelligence. This disruption will bring both pain and progress: temporary job losses, but also extraordinary opportunity. AI itself can help us strengthen the housing system—analyzing data, reducing waste, and improving fairness if used wisely.
But to do that, we must be honest about our imperfections and deliberate in our balance. People, government, and business must coexist in cooperation—not competition—each checking and supporting the other. Balance is the winning formula in any era of disruption. When the smart and the capable lead responsibly, when the status quo adapts instead of resisting, nations rise.
America can remain a light to the world—but only if we stay balanced, realistic, and willing to improve. We must open our eyes, hold corruption accountable, and remember that left and right are only halves of a greater whole.
If we can make housing reform work better for everyone, we’ll have built more than better homes. We’ll have built a model for reform itself—a vision of progress that blends fairness, innovation, and hope.