Ventura’s Homeless Population Rising, Officials Say : Recession: The number of people without shelter is growing fastest among intact families with children.

As the nationwide recession tightens its grip on Ventura, more people are finding themselves living in cars, campgrounds and clearings in the brushy Ventura River bed, officials said Monday.

“The President can say all he wants about the recession being over, but I see absolutely no evidence of it,” said Nancy Nazario, Ventura County’s ombudsman for the homeless. “Basically the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer, and the poor have lost their housing.”

The number of homeless people in Ventura--widely regarded by social workers as having the largest concentration of homeless people in the county--is growing fastest among families with the husband and wife still together and supporting children, officials said.

“When you start seeing intact families losing their housing, it’s pretty serious,” Nazario said.

Ventura’s network of nonprofit homeless-aid agencies, reputed to be among the most extensive in the county, is finding itself overtaxed, officials said.

Take Project Understanding, which operates Ventura’s only shelter for the homeless.

The shelter’s 18 beds have been full since late September, when Project Understanding converted an old drugstore on Ventura Avenue into a dormitory for families trying to save enough money to pay the security deposit and first month’s rent on an apartment.

“We could easily use four or five more shelters this size,” said Rick Pearson, executive director of Project Understanding.

But the biggest demand has been on the agency’s walk-in services, caseworker Bob Costello said.

In January, 448 people took showers at Project Understanding’s headquarters half a block from the shelter. In October, 573 showered at the facility.

The two laundry machines handled 37 loads in January, but 126 in October.

Homeless clients looking for work made 271 calls in January on Project Understanding’s telephone. In October, 549 such calls were made.

Costello said that while many of Project Understanding’s clients have been regular customers for several months, “we’re getting a lot of new people.”

Layoffs, rent increases and bad luck are pushing more and more Ventura residents over the edge, Costello said. And cuts in the state Aid to Families With Dependent Children have pushed an increasing number of families into homelessness, he said.

“We’re getting a lot of people who are just barely able to squeak by,” Costello said. “I’m starting to see folks from the blue-collar area: Something went wrong, the husband lost a job and, all of a sudden, without savings, they’re in quite a pickle.”

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army is working to open Ventura’s second homeless shelter, to be devoted to families and single women.

Using about $1.5 million in state, federal and city aid, the Salvation Army plans to convert its Oak Street building into a dormitory for 41 homeless people within six months, Maj. Eddie Patterson said.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Salvation Army hands out free sack lunches to the homeless--an average of 115 a day in October, 1990, compared with an average 137 a day last month, he said.

Some of those receiving the lunches are unable to work because of mental and physical disabilities, but an increasing number simply cannot find work, he said.

And many people, even once they regain jobs, cannot afford to pay the high rents and deposits required by Ventura landlords, he said.

“The two things I’m hearing are ‘There’s no jobs out there’ and . . . ‘I’ve been laid off,’ ” Patterson said.

“The third thing I’m hearing is they’re coming to town to find a job, hoping it’s better in Ventura,” Patterson said. But jobs advertised in the paper often are taken by the time such transplants arrive, he said.

The ones on the brink of homelessness are almost doomed to stay there, officials said.

“There’s those living in motels,” said Mary Ann Decaen, community services coordinator for Catholic Charities. “Technically they’re not homeless, but there are families in motels that seem like they can’t get together first (month’s rent), last and deposit. . . .

“If for some reason their check is late or is discontinued or they’re unemployed all of a sudden, the manager of the hotel is not going to wait a week--he’s going to put them out.”

And there are many people without children and not depending on government aid who are forced onto the streets by the economy.

Skilled laborers James Johnson and a friend, who asked not to be identified, said they have spent more than two months living in their cars after losing their well-paying jobs.

Tonight, they plan to leave Ventura for the promise of work in Seattle, because “You’re dead in the water here in Ventura,” Johnson said.

“For the first time in 40 years, I’ve learned how to live on the street,” said Johnson, 55, who until recently had steady work operating heavy equipment. “Now I can tell you what a dumpster run is--looking for cans, hoping you can get enough to get a pack of smokes and something to eat.”

Johnson pointed to a beat-up Plymouth station wagon, its rear springs sagging from the mattress and all his belongings crammed inside.

“That’s my motel right there. If it weren’t for that, I’d be living in a cardboard box.”

“I hate to leave the town, but I’ve got to work,” said his friend, 50, who has been unable to find work since he lost his oil-field foreman’s job.

“I don’t want any money from the government,” he said. “I just wish some people who didn’t pay attention to the homeless would start paying attention.”