THOUSAND OAKS : Group Buys House for Homeless Center

A nonprofit Thousand Oaks group announced Friday that it has closed a deal on a house that will be used as a daytime drop-in center for the homeless.

Roger Toft, chairman of the Conejo Homeless Assistance Project, said an offer on a five-bedroom house at 3046 Crescent Way was accepted this week.

Toft said the group will ask the city for a zoning change that would allow the two-story house to be converted into a drop-in center where the homeless can take showers, do laundry and seek medical and social-service assistance.

Toft declined to reveal the purchase price of the house for fear of jeopardizing the deal.

The group has already received a $50,000 grant from the city to be used as the down payment for the house. The group plans to hold fund-raisers to pay the mortgage on the house, Toft said.

The announcement ends more than a year of searching for a building. Volunteers plan to renovate the house and possibly open the center by March, Toft said.

The house is located in a residential neighborhood, but is next door to Manna, a food bank that also provides help to homeless and low-income people.