<story><title>Two Brothers Making Millions Off the Refugee Crisis in Scandinavia</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-norway-refugee-crisis-profiteers/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>Who cares if the profit margin is even double that (10-20%). Almost certainly still cheaper than the government getting into the hospitality business, and has the benefit of not creating a permanent bureaucracy.</text></item><item><author>rmxt</author><text>Without access to their books, it&amp;#x27;s hard to evaluate their actual profit. But, later in the article there is this quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The Adolfsens claim that theirs is 3.5 percent, but Herning calls that figure “highly unlikely. All the other refugee companies that I’ve looked at have a much higher profit margin.” She says that in handling revenue from nursery schools and nursing homes, the Adolfsens have played a shell game, shifting profits from one business within their conglomerate to another. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing that for Hero as well,” she says.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Also, quick searches seem to indicate that for-profit prisons (in the US at least), an analogous industry, have profit margins significantly north of 3.5%. [1] I wouldn&amp;#x27;t be surprised if the actual profit margins for the refugee care companies, when all subsidiaries are included, are between 5-10%.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if there&amp;#x27;s a perfect solution to refugee care that optimizes spending and societal harmony, but private enterprises running the show with close government oversight (and no shell games), seems like a somewhat happy middle ground.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;id&amp;#x2F;48675641&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;id&amp;#x2F;48675641&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rubidium</author><text>&amp;quot;For 2015, Hero Norway expects revenue of $63 million, with profits of 3.5 percent. &amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Title correction: Long-time hospitality business entrepreneurs expand business into providing refugee housing and services. The business made 2.2 Million profits in 2015 operating highly efficient refugee care centers.&lt;p&gt;My guess is there would be at least that much money wasted if these centers were run by less experienced people in that business sector (e.g. the gov&amp;#x27;t). Also note: the government regulates the business.&lt;p&gt;Overall from the article, it seems like a good way to care for the refugees.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>will_brown</author><text>In 2007 a boat with 100+ Haitian refugees made it to South Florida.  The refugees were immediately detained, then sent to Krome Detention Center (no women) and Broward Transition Center (men&amp;#x2F;women&amp;#x2F;children).  However, between the 2 facilities there were not enough beds and the remaining were put up in private motels.  Even in Miami&amp;#x2F;Fort Lauderdale Florida, where our main industry is tourism, I think the private motels were far more cost effective than the existing Government infrastructure&amp;#x2F;detention facilities.  And the people making the most money?  The contractors of the detention facilities making 1,000&amp;#x27;sx profit margins on things like phone cards, sandals, and vending machine food stuffs.&lt;p&gt;As a side, my legal clinic represented the Haitian refugees who were children in asylum&amp;#x2F;visa hearings pro bono.</text></comment>
<story><title>Two Brothers Making Millions Off the Refugee Crisis in Scandinavia</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-norway-refugee-crisis-profiteers/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>Who cares if the profit margin is even double that (10-20%). Almost certainly still cheaper than the government getting into the hospitality business, and has the benefit of not creating a permanent bureaucracy.</text></item><item><author>rmxt</author><text>Without access to their books, it&amp;#x27;s hard to evaluate their actual profit. But, later in the article there is this quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The Adolfsens claim that theirs is 3.5 percent, but Herning calls that figure “highly unlikely. All the other refugee companies that I’ve looked at have a much higher profit margin.” She says that in handling revenue from nursery schools and nursing homes, the Adolfsens have played a shell game, shifting profits from one business within their conglomerate to another. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing that for Hero as well,” she says.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Also, quick searches seem to indicate that for-profit prisons (in the US at least), an analogous industry, have profit margins significantly north of 3.5%. [1] I wouldn&amp;#x27;t be surprised if the actual profit margins for the refugee care companies, when all subsidiaries are included, are between 5-10%.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if there&amp;#x27;s a perfect solution to refugee care that optimizes spending and societal harmony, but private enterprises running the show with close government oversight (and no shell games), seems like a somewhat happy middle ground.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;id&amp;#x2F;48675641&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;id&amp;#x2F;48675641&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rubidium</author><text>&amp;quot;For 2015, Hero Norway expects revenue of $63 million, with profits of 3.5 percent. &amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Title correction: Long-time hospitality business entrepreneurs expand business into providing refugee housing and services. The business made 2.2 Million profits in 2015 operating highly efficient refugee care centers.&lt;p&gt;My guess is there would be at least that much money wasted if these centers were run by less experienced people in that business sector (e.g. the gov&amp;#x27;t). Also note: the government regulates the business.&lt;p&gt;Overall from the article, it seems like a good way to care for the refugees.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bjourne</author><text>It isn&amp;#x27;t. A similar situation has arisen in Sweden and immigrant housing in government owned facilities are significantly cheaper than private run ones.</text></comment>