COUNTYWIDE : Homeless Shelter Loses U.S. Funds

About 40 people from Zoe Christian Center protested the County Board of Supervisors’ decision Tuesday to withdraw $75,000 in federal funds earmarked for the homeless shelter.

The staff and the homeless men, women and children from the Oxnard center staged a silent protest after the decision. They stood in the hearing room for less than an hour while the supervisors conducted other business.

The financially plagued center was in line for $75,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to help pay for and renovate the women’s shelter at 104 N. Hayes St.

However, just before the deal was finalized, county officials learned that there were two liens totaling $118,000 on the property. Because of the liens, the federal funds were withdrawn.

“At the last minute we found out the county was not going to do it,” said the Rev. Jim Gilmer, executive director of the center. “We were depending on it.”

Gilmer said in a letter to county officials that one of the liens has been paid off and the other, filed by the Internal Revenue Service, is being taken care of.

“I really feel that if county staff would have worked more closely with us on this matter that the project could have been completed,” he said. Now the property is in foreclosure and the center must get a loan to replace the money that was withdrawn, he said.

Marty Shaw-Halloway, manager of special projects for the county, said the liens made it imprudent to give the money to the center because of the possibility the property could be taken over by creditors. The liens plus the mortgage equal more than the value of the property, she said.

“I feel badly for Zoe. We all do,” she said.

The center, which opened 15 years ago, provides shelter and counseling for about 150 people a day. In 1986, the women’s shelter opened with space for 15.