How problems with Palm Springs basic-income program affected one resident

A pilot program meant to help some of Palm Springs' most vulnerable residents delayed aid for months with little explanation, according to one person enrolled in it.

Clarence Smelcer, a 62-year-old former social worker, is one of 14 current beneficiaries of a guaranteed income program that came under fire after the city of Palm Springs admitted last week money meant for the program could not be accounted for.

Smelcer described to The Desert Sun months of broken promises and miscommunication between pilot participants and the nonprofit charged by the city with administering the funds, Queer Works.

Possible misuse of funds is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and the Palm Springs Police Department, according to City Councilmember Lisa Middleton.

Palm Springs has also conducted an audit of the spending and demanded the return of any remaining funds. The city has not responded to questions from The Desert Sun requesting additional details on he unaccounted funds and when it first became alerted to potential wrongdoing.

"A lot of folks were all pretty vulnerable. Nobody really pays attention to us," Smelcer said. "We’re really poor. And I felt like we had a carrot dangling in front of us."

Smelcer grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, before moving to San Francisco in 2004 in part to live in a large gay community. He said he worked for a mental health organization in the city before the cost of living became too unbearable. After living in his pickup truck for a year and a half, he decided to move to Palm Springs around 2016.

"I don’t have a degree, but in San Francisco, my experience was everything, and here in Palm Springs, your experience doesn’t really matter — you have to have the education," he said.

After maintenance work at a local Jewish temple dried up, he took on odd jobs and lived in a small apartment with a rent of $650 to make ends meet. When he learned of the guaranteed income program, he applied with the hope of using the $800 monthly payments to help him get a bachelor's degree so he could continue his social work career.

"I just wanted to finish my degree so I could have a job," he said.

From May to October 2023, Queer Works repeatedly delayed payments.

In emails between Smelcer and Queer Works that he shared with The Desert Sun, the nonprofit offers a variety of reasons for the lack of payments from the launch of the program in March of 2023. Still, Smelcer described sending dozens of emails to Queer Works attempting to clarify why the payments were being delayed. He said the excuses offered by the nonprofit were not satisfactory.

Smelcer said he borrowed nearly $3,000 to cover living expenses during the time he was supposed to have been receiving payments from the basic income program. He said he is now working to pay back his debts.

"Regardless of what somebody else tells me, this has been a really good lesson to me to make sure that I’m covered before I make a decision like that," he said.

Participants were to receive payments via direct deposit. In May 2023, an email from Queer Works said the partner chosen to disburse payments had been a victim of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse months earlier.

In a Sept. 13 email, Queer Works CEO Jacob Rostovsky apologized to Smelcer for a delay in communication, saying the previous email address they had been using was no longer active.

Queer Works did not respond to a request for comment from The Desert Sun.

"I just felt like he was being completely disingenuous with us, and that everything that seemed to happen over the last year was like a con game," Smelcer said. "It just never felt right, and we were always made to feel like we were the problem, not him."

At the end of June 2023, Queer Works altered the program into cohorts of 10, saying people in cohort two and three would not receive payments until October and December of that year.

"Although we understand that you may have made financial commitments based on the previous timeline, we want to emphasize that during the program orientation, it was explicitly stated that decisions should not be made nor money spent until the funds are in your accounts," the email from Queer Works says. "We genuinely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and sincerely appreciate your cooperation."

The delay in payments came as Queer Works executive compensation skyrocketed. Tax filings show the nonprofit received $723,000 in 2023, up from $176,000 the prior year. Rostovsky was paid $190,000 by the nonprofit in 2023 after being paid $16,485 in 2022.

In total, 81.5% of all revenue received by Queer Works in 2023 went to salaries and executive compensation, according to the tax filings.

"A lot of people supported it because in our community, we know a lot of these people. We know they’re struggling. We know they have a harder time getting by than others," said Raymond Lafleur, a Cathedral City resident who runs the Gay Men of Palm Springs Facebook page. "Then it kind of went quiet and then this story came out this past week. I think people are really angry and upset."

Smelcer sent an email to then-Palm Springs Mayor Grace Garner in September alerting her of the issues with the program. He also contacted a representative of DAP Health, which had partnered with Queer Works to administer the program.

Emails show Smelcer received the first payment in mid-October. Rostovsky told Smelcer in an email: "I’d super appreciate if you let council know as well, they wanted to ensure you were okay."

Garner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Still, Smelcer described problems with payments, including deposits that did not go through for multiple days. Smelcer said the only payment in which all participants received a timely deposit occurred after DAP Health took full control of the program July 12 of this year.

"We feel vulnerable to the extent that we could lose what little we’ve got," Smelcer said. "Even though I feel really good about having DAP run this thing now. It still feels like it’s been a very punitive process."

He said he is hoping for accountability for the delays, while he is still thankful for the aid.

While the program originally had 30 people enrolled, in a press release last week, DAP Health said only 14 participants remained.

Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: How problems with Palm Springs basic-income program affected one resident