Solutions for Change, the North County nonprofit that helps families overcome homelessness, has repaid more than $500,000 inappropriately withdrawn from its mandated reserve accounts, but it faces a lawsuit from its founder and former chief executive officer.
The withdrawals, noted in an internal audit report released earlier this year, required approval from the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, which oversees affordable housing developments, making sure that funds for maintenance, repairs and ongoing operations are set aside as required by law.
“The County did not approve the withdrawal of the funds,” an HHSA email said last week. “The withdrawal was identified by the County’s monitoring process; the reserve accounts have been replenished and are now in compliance with County requirements.”
Exactly what occurred to cause the withdrawals, which Solutions’ most recent audit says occurred in 2023 and 2024, has not been disclosed. Auditors indicate that these withdrawals were made “to cover operating cash flow needs,” but further detail is not included.
In a written message sent Friday, Chris Megison, the founder and former CEO of Solutions, stood by his work, but did not shed further light on the use of reserve account funds.
“My highest priority during my time at SFC was serving and protecting the families and individuals the organization supported,” Megison said. “Business decisions during my tenure were made with board knowledge and approval.”
In a wrongful termination lawsuit filed Jan. 9, Megison states that he was put on extended leave during a “documented cashflow crisis” in which he and several other top executives agreed to work temporarily without pay through the second half of 2024.
Megison alleges that he was later put on involuntary leave “with no written cause or explanation” in July 2025 and dismissed in December, though, according to the legal complaint, Solutions’ board of directors “still had not disclosed the details of the allegations in writing, findings or any valid basis for contractural ’cause,’ nor had it complied with required contractural procedures or basic nonprofit governance standards.”
The suit also accuses the Solutions board of defamation, stating that some of its members falsely told staff, lenders and others that Megison “committed ‘fraud,’ engaged in ‘malfeasance’ (and) would be ‘reported to state authorities.’”
Megison’s lawsuit alleges that his dismissal was aimed at avoiding “contractual severance and trying to avoid paying his lawfully owed back pay.” At the time of his dismissal, the executive, the lawsuit states, earned about $200,000 per year and was owed $125,000 in back pay.
Solutions has not yet filed a response in court. Asked for comment Friday, Solutions directors said: “As a matter of practice, the organization does not comment on personnel matters or pending legal issues. We are confident that the appropriate process will bring clarity to the facts. Solutions for Change continues its work without disruption, focused on delivering measurable outcomes for families and advancing a model that prioritizes accountability, recovery, and lasting independence.”
Solutions recently named a new permanent chief executive officer, appointing Aaron Byzak, its interim CEO, to serve indefinitely.
Byzak said that the money to restore the reserve accounts came from a philanthropic donation.
“The source is private right now (but) it’ll be announced at some point in the future, along with a number of other things,” Byzak said.
Byzak, whose consulting company, Galvanized Strategies, offers interim CEO services under contract, said that Solutions’ mission, serving families struggling to survive after experiencing homelessness, often caused by addiction, connected so deeply with his personal history that he had to stay.
“I was one of those kids that grew up in chaos, you know, in abuse, and all of these different things,” Byzak said.
At age 11, he said, seeing the effects of addiction in his own family, he decided to abstain from drugs and alcohol and, thus far, nearing his 49th birthday, has kept that promise to himself.
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A graduate of Carlsbad High School, he earned a master’s of business administration degree from UC Irvine in 2008 after starting out as a local emergency medical technician. Along the way, he was the founding chair of the San Diego County Prescription Abuse Taskforce in 2008, also working in director roles at UC San Diego Health and Tri-City Medical Center, where he left his job as chief strategy officer in 2024.
Solutions for Change has attracted significant attention for its rejection of “housing first” policies, which emphasize rapid housing for residents experiencing homelessness, setting aside sobriety requirements.
Solutions has missed out on housing funding, including difficulty with a recent project in Carlsbad, due to its refusal to implement housing first policies at its properties, and Byzak said there is no plan to change this stance.
Megison, who founded Solutions in 1999, often noted that the organization’s work with families, including children, make drug and alcohol use in Solutions-run housing units a non-starter.
“Many of the people that come into our program have lost their kids to child welfare services, and we have a 100% success rate of helping people get their kids back through our program,” Byzak said.
He said Solutions is currently housing about 100 people, including adults and children, who participate in the organization’s 700-day academy, receiving vocational training, peer support, and therapeutic services. The program, according to its website, has graduated “over 1,522 parents, supporting 3,278 children.”
Megison planned to expand the reach of the academy by relocating to Green Oak Ranch, a bucolic property in Vista that would have provided additional space for larger groups to learn its model. The nonprofit beat out an offer from the county to build a mental health and substance use treatment campus on the property, which was backed by Supervisor Jim Desmond.
Byzak said the $10.5 million Green Oak plan has been set aside. Currently, the property’s sale is tied up in litigation over the eviction of long-term RV park residents. Green Oak Ranch is owned by a trust established by the de Jong family, known in North County for establishing Hollandia Dairy in San Marcos.
“It was an ambitious effort; it had a lot of promise, but the organization has recently made the decision to move in a different direction,” Byzak said.
That direction, he said, will include Solutions Enterprise, an effort to elevate workforce training. The idea, Byzak said, is to help clients pursue careers.
“We want to broaden their perspectives on the jobs that are out there, and then help them thoughtfully begin to target their perspective on what it is that they want to do,” Byzak said.
While Solutions has had great success helping struggling families find jobs, it is possible, partnering with local organizations, to aim higher.
“I feel like we’ve done a very good job helping people get jobs, but I question long-term whether those are subsistence-level jobs or those are thriving careers,” Byzak said. “The goal is to take them from subsistence to thriving.”
And these services, he added, would ideally be available not just to current academy members but also to previous graduates.
Today, Solutions has 32 apartments on its main Vista campus for families currently in the academy and a 22-unit building in the city for graduates as well as nine single-family homes in North County.
