Fire Awakens Calls for Affordable Housing : Moorpark: Twenty-one people who lived in a small house and garage are left homeless after the structures burned.

A Moorpark fire that razed a small house and garage where 21 people lived has again raised questions about what can be done to eliminate the overcrowding of houses in the city.

“It’s a frustrating situation,” Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason said. “Affordable housing is the solution. But it’s a long-term solution.”

Lawrason said the city has been bombarded for years with complaints from residents and merchants in the downtown area about noise, loitering and unsanitary conditions that arise from large numbers of people living in homes and garages nearby.

“I know we do have a problem,” he said. “And now with the economy the way it is, it’s more of a problem.”

The house fire Wednesday on Roberts Avenue underscored the situation. Authorities said 17 adults and four children, all Latinos and apparently related, had been living in the three-bedroom, wood-frame house and attached garage.

Ventura County fire officials said all but three of the residents were at school or at work when the fire broke out shortly after 10 a.m. They said the blaze was started by a malfunctioning wall clock in the garage.

The Red Cross has provided the 21 residents with motel vouchers, and they will be given food and clothing until they can find another place to live, said spokeswoman Lenore Gable.

Neighbor Bruce Jackson said the displaced family had been living in the house for more than a year. He said they were friendly and did not cause problems.

“They were nice people. They were just overpacked in that house,” he said. “A lot of houses around here are like that. I don’t like it, but what can you do about it.”

Olivia Villa, who lives across from the burned-out house, said she was not aware so many people were living there because the occupants were mostly quiet and kept to themselves.

She said she did not blame them for living the way they did.

“It’s better than living in the streets or in their cars,” she said. “I put myself in their place. I feel sorry for them.”

Fire and city officials said no law specifies how many people can live in a house, but no one can live legally in a garage that has not been converted in accordance to city building codes, officials said. They added, however, that no bedding could be identified in the charred remains of the garage. Frank Mancino, a Moorpark building-code officer, said the city is limited in what it can do about overcrowding because it is hard to prove how many people are actually living in a house.

However, he said, the city can evict people if they prompt repeated complaints about noise, trash or other problems. Mancino said he responded to more than 85 chronic cases last year and has identified about a dozen more this year. He said he did not know how many of the households have been evicted.

Nancy Nazario, resource coordinator for the Ventura County Homeless Ombudsman Program, said overcrowding occurs in all the county’s 10 cities. Moorpark, Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Paula have serious problems, she said.

“It’s based simply on the lack of affordable housing,” Nazario said. “What infuriates me is that the people who don’t want affordable housing in their neighborhoods are the ones who can’t understand why there are 21 people living in a house.”

Councilman Bernardo Perez said his city is looking at two proposed housing projects that could provide 200 dwellings for low-income residents. He said the city also hired a second code-enforcement officer a few months ago to answer complaints about overcrowded dwellings in the city.