Countywide : Cities, County Await HUD Aid Allocation

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will allocate $2.3 million in federal housing grants to six cities and the county for ultimate distribution to nonprofit or public agencies.

If the allocations are approved as proposed by county staff members, the county would receive about $1 million in federal Housing and Urban Development community development grants.

According to a distribution formula based on population and need, Camarillo would receive $345,175, more than any other city in the county.

Santa Paula would receive $280,116; Port Hueneme would get $206,021; Moorpark would receive $184,334, Fillmore, $140,058 and Ojai, $76,806.

Ventura County passes along HUD grants to local cities which, in turn, distribute the money to organizations that will benefit poor residents.

This year, 21 nonprofit and government agencies in the county asked for a total of $3.2 million in HUD community development grants--nearly $1 million more than is available, said Marty Shaw-Halloway, manager of special projects in the county’s chief administrative office.

“Some people don’t get stuff, some get a portion of what they want, and others delay projects,” she said.

Fred Judy, founder and president of the Zoe Christian Center in Oxnard, has applied for $250,000 in grants this year. He said he is certain that grant funds will be awarded to the facility to build transitional housing for about 300 homeless people.

“It has to happen this time,” Judy said. “There’s no other choice.”

Zoe proposes to build apartments next to the center at 605 S. Rose Ave., he said.

The Board of Supervisors will give final approval to the allocations in May, although Shaw-Halloway said that ratification is largely a formality.