COUNTYWIDE : Homeless Loan Program Expanded

A no-interest loan program to help homeless people pay security deposits offered by the Ventura County Commission on Human Concerns will be expanded to provide more loans and grants to residents of Ojai and Simi Valley.

The program aids the homeless and low-income residents in paying move-in deposits.

The two cities have agreed to expand loan eligibility guidelines to include anyone making up to 80% of the median income of Ventura.

Previously, applicants had to be below the 50% mark to qualify. The median income in the county for a family of four, determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is $21,800, said the commission’s resource developer, John Servis.

“People making down below the 50% line probably don’t have the expendable income to pay back loans and should be getting grants,” said Servis, who wrote the proposal. He explained that by making higher-income people eligible for the loans, more could be served and the commission would have a lower loan default rate.

“There’s no point in lending them money and putting them in a worse position,” he said.

A grant program will supplement loans to the neediest applicants. Commission Director Lee Riggan said much of the funding available for loans has not been distributed because “we’ve been really careful to loan out money to people who would be sure to pay it back.”

The commission is “in the process of setting up the system” in Ojai, which has donated $14,070 in city funding, Riggan said. It will serve as a pilot program and a prototype for a Simi Valley program. She said applicants are being screened for the Ojai program.

Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Thousand Oaks, Ventura and Ventura County pool money for the loan program.