OXNARD : Council to Focus on Crowded Housing

The Oxnard City Council at its meeting today will study several possible strategies for reducing crowded housing, including requiring occupancy permits for rental properties citywide.

A rental housing occupancy permit program is one of five proposals recommended for study by a City Hall task force that has been reviewing the problem of crowded housing in Oxnard.

The task force also suggested that the council consider banning residential use of garages, hiring another code-enforcement officer to seek out housing violations, creating a housing counseling program and pursuing legislation that would allow cities to enforce tougher occupancy rules.

Prompted by complaints of crowding by the city’s neighborhood councils, the City Council created the task force about two years ago, said Michael Gibson, an analyst in the city’s Community Development Department.

Complaints were received about illegal residential conversions, parking problems, declining property values, offensive behavior, illegal use of trailers, excess trash and noise.

News that a residential fire earlier this year forced the evacuation of 43 people living in one house widened the scope of the study, Gibson said.

“The impetus for the task force was the neighborhood council concerns,” Gibson said. “But as we looked at it more closely, a lot of public health and safety problems were exposed.”

In its report, the task force noted that more than one-third of the city’s 18,183 rental units were too crowded in 1989, according to U. S. Census Bureau standards. But the State Uniform Housing Code allows up to 12 residents to share a typical three-bedroom house, making control of crowding more difficult, Gibson said.

The meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall.