Poverty Agency, Developer Join to Promote Shelter for the Homeless

In the latest of a series of flip-flops, a Ventura anti-poverty agency has dropped plans to convert an aging hotel into a shelter for the homeless and instead is making plans to open a housing project on developer-donated land two miles outside the city limits.

A developer would donate the land in exchange for City Council permission to build $200,000 houses nearby. Project Understanding, the anti-poverty agency, would operate the shelter for 150 to 200 homeless people, it said this week.

The organization’s announcement came even though negotiations for use of the land have not been completed and despite some city officials’ skepticism about whether the unusual project will ever be approved.

Project Understanding said it has abandoned plans to join Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. in attempting to raise $1.7 million to buy the De Anza Hotel on Ventura Avenue. The outlook for raising the money was poor, the group said through a spokeswoman, Dianne Federle.

Teams With Developer

It hitched itself this week to a proposal by developer Richard Komorowski to build on what is now a decaying lemon orchard.

Komorowski for some time has wanted to combine a new housing project with a facility serving the homeless. He first aired the idea in June. At the time, Komorowski was attempting to gain City Council support for a luxury housing development on the hills overlooking the fallow lemon orchards.

That plan fell through, but Komorowski and Project Understanding continued to negotiate. On Wednesday, Komorowski said his latest plan involves donating 4 1/2 acres to Project Understanding if he can gain City Council approval to build 77 houses on a surrounding 20 1/2-acre parcel; the homes would sell in the $200,000 to $225,000 range. The land, on farmland north of Bard Lane, is outside the city but in its planning sphere of influence because the city provides water. The project would also need county approval.

Komorowski and Project Understanding officials have launched a campaign to persuade area residents that the facility would not be a threat to the neighborhood. They describe the shelter as a “transitional housing project.”

Not a ‘Soup Kitchen’

“I don’t want to see the word homeless at all,” Komorowski said. “This is transitional housing for families who are temporarily down on their luck. It is not some kind of soup kitchen operation. It’s not going to be some mission-type warehouse for the homeless.”

He said the temporary housing would be separated from other homes, including the houses he plans to build, by a wall and landscaping.

Komorowski, in partnership with Joe Priske and Steve Gerjets in PKG Enterprises, said he got the idea after earlier efforts to have his land approved for development were rejected by city officials. He said he hopes that the temporary housing for the poor will appeal to them.

Their immediate reaction, however, was guarded. Community Development Director Everett Millais said there may be some question about the number of houses Komorowski wants to build, explaining that 77 would mean a greater consumption of water than the 25 he initially proposed.

48-Unit Apartment Complex

In addition to the houses, according to Project Understanding officials, the development would include a 48-unit apartment complex for the homeless, divided into one-, two- and three-bedroom units, which would house between 150 and 200 people. There would be a day-care center and administrative offices. Tenants would pay no rent and could stay about four months. The complex would have its own entrance.

Voicing opposition to the proposal at a City Council meeting Monday night was area resident Dave LeClair. He said 27 homeowners in the area plan to fight the project. They think that it could endanger their children and undermine housing values on the surrounding blocks.

City Councilman Richard Francis said he was disappointed that Project Understanding decided to pull out of the De Anza Hotel project. He said he had worked hard to get the agency $200,000 in city funds to help buy the building. The anti-poverty group pulled out of the project in March, only to recommit to buying the hotel the following month.

“I’m disappointed,” Francis said. “I really thought they had the potential to make something happen there. I thought the two agencies, Project Understanding and Cabrillo, made an unbeatable team. Now if Project Understanding wants to go another route, all I can say is that I know that path is fraught with difficulty.”

Officials of Cabrillo, meanwhile, said they were disappointed that Project Understanding has pulled out of the De Anza project. They said they will proceed on their own to try to raise funds to buy the building.

One supporter of the joint venture between Komorowski and Project Understanding is Ventura Mayor Jim Monahan, who called the idea for combining transitional housing with middle-range homes both “creative and brave.”

“I think it’s a do-able project,” Monahan said. “But it is still in the very early stages. We will have to take a good look at it when all the details are completed. We will also listen carefully to any concerns by area residents.”