Federal Aid May Help Realize Thousand Oaks Homeless Center : Services: Residents have twice defeated plan for a drop-in facility. City Council will discuss applying for a HUD grant to fund it.

Inching toward support for a drop-in center that would provide showers, laundry machines and mailboxes for the city’s homeless, Thousand Oaks council members Tuesday will discuss applying for a federal grant to fund the proposed facility.

Furious residents have twice shot down proposals for a daytime drop-in center in their neighborhoods, but this time, advocates for homeless people believe they can win public support--especially if the federal government foots the bill.

Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilman Frank Schillo will recommend Tuesday that the council authorize the city to apply for $300,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development funds to pay for an addition to the Human Services Center on East Hillcrest Drive.

The council has not yet approved the blueprints for a drop-in center at that site, and planning is still in preliminary stages.

“It’s not like it’s a unanimous slam-dunk” in favor of the center, Schillo cautioned.

But proponents of the drop-in center were cheered by the move to apply for funding.

“If they get the money, what are they going to do with it unless they approve our development?” said Roger Toft, president of the Conejo Homeless Assistance Program, which has been pushing for a drop-in center for two years.

With applications due May 21, the city must act quickly if it is to put in a bid for the federal funds, which would come from a $100-million pot earmarked for homeless service programs.

“We have to strike while the iron is hot,” said Lazar, who discussed the concept of a drop-in center with top federal housing officials in Washington, D.C., during the National League of Cities meeting in March.

Although Thousand Oaks’ homeless problem seems minuscule compared with bigger, poorer cities elsewhere in the nation, Lazar said she thought the application would attract attention from federal officials because it spells out a public-private partnership.

The city last year set aside $50,000 as a down payment for a drop-in center, and might put up more from community development funds, Lazar said. The council may also ask Westlake Village and Agoura Hills to contribute.

In addition, private donors and nonprofit foundations could easily raise enough money to keep the drop-in center running, with one or two staff counselors and several volunteers, Toft said.

As a condition of the grant, the city must demonstrate an ability to match the federal funds dollar for dollar.

“Fund-raising isn’t the problem,” Toft said. “Finding a location is.”

But that problem, too, may be nearing a solution.

Lazar and several of her colleagues have cautiously endorsed the idea of expanding the Human Services Center--which already houses 20 nonprofit groups--to help the city’s 80 to 100 homeless residents.

Aside from a senior housing complex, most of the buildings surrounding the Human Services Center, commonly called Under One Roof, are professional offices. In contrast, the first two proposals for drop-in centers sparked outraged protests from neighbors because they would have attracted vagrants to largely residential areas.

“This location is the one ray of hope we have,” said Jim Kinville, vice president of the Conejo Homeless Assistance Program.

A drop-in center adjacent to the Under One Roof building might also provide additional office space for the social service groups, or more examination rooms for the subsidized clinic, homeless advocates said.

The center itself, planned for 1,500 square feet, would contain at least four showers, laundry machines, typewriters for resumes and job applications, and desks for children to do homework. It would be open only during the day and would not serve meals.

Visitors would be able to collect phone messages and mail at the center. Child care might be provided for parents out on job interviews. And the needy would be just a few steps away from a host of other services, from a social security office to a youth employment office.

“It seems a natural fit,” Schillo said.

The location has the strong support of many at the Human Services Center, including Joseph Smolarski, community relations director of Many Mansions. His organization settles people in low-cost apartments and takes care of a steady stream of homeless.

“Deep in their hearts, people want to do something for the indigent, but they’re always concerned that the wrong element will come around and disturb the peace in their nice neighborhood,” Smolarski said. “I think this would be the ideal spot for a drop-in center.”