Oxnard to Let Mission Put Tent for Homeless on City Site

Oxnard city officials cleared the way Thursday for the Ventura County Rescue Mission to erect a tent on city property to temporarily house up to 60 men made homeless by a fire that destroyed the mission’s shelter.

But plans for Navy Seabees to raise the 3,200-square-foot tent by this weekend fell through when mission directors were unable to win permission to use a vacant parcel owned by a neighboring health clinic.

Carol Roberg, the mission’s associate director, said the rescue mission now hopes to have the tent in place by Tuesday. Until then, former residents of the mission’s shelter will be allowed to remain at the First Baptist Church of Oxnard, said John Jackson, the church’s pastor.

“It’s really a blessing,” Roberg said about the city’s permission for the mission to use a parcel at the corner of Meta and 6th streets owned by the Oxnard Redevelopment Agency.

Oxnard Housing Director Salvador Gonzales said city officials should approve a temporary use permit by the end of today.

“It’s all been taken care of,” Gonzales said. The city probably could have approved the use of the redevelopment property earlier in the week if it had been asked, he said.

Roberg expressed disappointment that the rescue mission was unable to reach agreement with Clinicas del Camino Real over use of a lot next to the gutted shelter for temporary housing.

According to Roberg, mission supporters were led to believe that the lot could be used for a temporary shelter if they met certain conditions, which included releasing the clinic from any liabilities and buying insurance for the temporary shelter.

But Roberg said Clinicas officials later backed off from their agreement.

Roberto S. Juarez, executive director of Clinicas del Camino Real, denied Thursday that he had ever given permission for the mission to use the property for the temporary shelter.

Juarez said the conditions that he set were only for a period of seven to 10 days, because the clinic plans to begin construction of a parking lot on the parcel after that.

Before the city of Oxnard stepped in, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) had also entered the fray Thursday.

Gallegly, who had recruited volunteers from the Navy Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme to help build the temporary shelter, said he would not have expended so much effort if he did not think an agreement with the clinic was in the offing. “We would have put our energies elsewhere,” Gallegly said in a phone interview from his Washington office.

“All I’m concerned about is that 60 to 70 men will need to find some place under a bridge to sleep,” Gallegly said.

Jerry Roberg, director of the Christian-run rescue mission, said the importance of opening a temporary shelter overshadowed any dispute with Clinicas.

“We’re not in the business of holding grudges,” he said. “This should not be a political thing; we’re just trying to help people out.”