Financial Crisis Imperils Center for Homeless : Zoe: The Oxnard shelter might have to eject 165 residents. The lack of a secure location hinders donations, directors say.

The Zoe Christian Center in Oxnard, the county’s largest homeless center, has a financial crisis so severe that it has not paid its employees in months and faces the prospect of turning its 165 homeless residents into the streets, its directors said Thursday.

Much of the center’s financial problems stem from Oxnard’s refusal last year to extend a zoning permit that would allow the center to remain at its present location on Rose Avenue near a fertilizer plant that stores toxic chemicals, said the center’s founder, the Rev. Fred Judy.

Although Zoe leaders are looking for a new site, they said private donors shy away from financing a center without a secure location. Furthermore, they said, federal officials are reluctant to issue grants to a center located in a hazardous area, and most state grants require authorization from the city.

“People don’t know whether we would be in existence or not or where we were going to be. People don’t want to give to a place that might not be there,” Judy said.

“We are aware of Zoe’s financial problems,” said Sal Gonzalez, Oxnard’s housing director. “We are trying to work together, but the city itself has its own financial problems.”

City officials allowed Zoe’s permit to expire in April, 1989, after discovering environmental hazards of a nearby fertilizer plant. The city has tried to help Zoe find a new location, including searching for a consultant to identify potential new sites.

But zoning restrictions have complicated the task of finding a permanent site for the center. “We haven’t had any land or any sites in the city zoned for homeless shelters,” Gonzalez said.

Recently, city officials took steps to remove at least one roadblock, Gonzalez said. “In October the city adopted a new General Plan permitting various zones for homeless shelters.”

While Zoe leaders continue to look for a new site, the center’s debts continue to grow, Judy said. “We owe everybody.”

Utility companies have agreed to take payments in installments, Judy said. And he said he hopes that the center will receive a $100,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover back rent.

Despite the bleak picture, Judy and other managers said they were committed to keeping the center open. About 60% of its residents are children under the age of 12, he said. “We would be putting them out onto the streets.”

Judy acknowledges that the next few months will be difficult for the staff. “Any wise person, I guess, would say, ‘Forget this,’ and go out and get a job that pays,” he said.

The center’s financial troubles have started to hurt its 15-member staff of managers, cooks, maintenance workers and security guards. More than half of the staff were drawn from the homeless living in Zoe and some of them are close to slipping back into the ranks of the homeless.

“Sometimes I get depressed and think about having to come back if I lose my home,” said Adela Pena, 35, who moved into her first apartment in February after four years of living at Zoe. “It is a real worry,” said Pena, the sole provider for her six-member household. Her last paycheck was in September.

Jim Gilmer, the center’s executive director, already lost his home to foreclosure in November after working without pay for six months. He now rents a townhouse for himself, his wife and child. But he said the rent is due Jan. 1 and he has no way to pay it.

But the staff remains dedicated at the only center in the county that provides long-term shelter for the homeless. Most occupants are single women with families, although the center also houses men with children.

“I hope things will change in the next three months because if they don’t we are going to have to take a hard look at continuing services,” Gilmer said. “We need help and that is the bottom line.”

On Thursday, more than 20 mothers and children sat down to a lunch of noodles, bagels and salad.

In the kitchen, Rosario Equhua, 28, cradled her 4-month-old daughter in one arm and used the other to ladle chocolate cake mix into cake pans. A Zoe resident for five months, Equhua now volunteers in the kitchen.

“If the center were to close down, it would be a problem for a lot of people because it is a place where we receive a lot of help,” Equhua said through a translator.

“There is definitely a need for a homeless shelter, especially for families,” Gonzalez said. “The city is committed to keeping Zoe open.”