A local restaurant tycoon is sinking a large amount of money into a program that attempts to solve Redding’s homeless issues simply by helping them go away. The Journey Home Program provides one-way bus tickets to homeless people to send them back to their distant homes. The program was first hatched from the Safe City Project in 2014. Joe Wong liked the idea so much he initially gave the program $20,000 in 2015 and offered to match incoming donations. Wong owns 34 restaurants from Central Oregon to Southern California including Burger Kings,Applebees, Logans, View 202, and others. The total cost to send each of the homeless people away is between 200 and 300 Dollars, according to the Good News Rescue Mission which administers the program. So far more than 300 people have been permanently sent away and about $60,000 has been donated for the purchase of bus tickets. A lot more of those tickets can be purchased with the $100,000 that the rescue mission says is being donated by Wong. Some of the money will also be used to hire staff to manage the funds and the outgoing members of the homeless population. Information on the Journey Home Program can be found at gnrm.org.