SIMI VALLEY : Meeting to Address Affordable Housing

Providing more affordable housing in an area considered one of the least affordable in the country will be the subject of a Ventura County summit today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.

About 100 county and state officials are expected to attend the 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. summit, said Elaine Freeman, a member of the Ventura County Affordable Housing Committee. The committee, which comprises several county officials and business leaders, organized the event.

The summit, which costs $50 per person, is open to the public, Freeman said.

A featured speaker will be Larry Arnn, who has worked with Housing Secretary Jack Kemp on encouraging the construction of low-cost housing nationwide. Tim Coil, director of the state Housing and Community Development Department, also will speak.

“We hope to determine what it will take to provide more housing for medium-income households,” Freeman said. “These are our teachers, firemen and policemen. . . . We’re talking about housing for the majority of people.”

Freeman, who operates a developer’s consulting firm in Thousand Oaks, said the average cost of a house in Ventura County is about $240,000, making it one of the most expensive counties in the country in which to live.

She said the county and its 10 cities must provide more housing in the $130,000 to $160,000 range.