On one hand its definitely a racket/shifting public money to deepen some people's pockets.

On the other hand doing something like this in a time sensitive manner does limit people's options quite significantly, especially while trying not to have the neighbors losing their shit over it.

For sure some people are getting rich out of this. But I doubt even the best mayor ever would be able to do SIGNIFICANTLY better. Housing someone isn't that expensive. Housing someone in a time sensitive manner and maintaining the place (especially if its getting wrecked) is a whole other story.