HUD to Reconsider Waiting-List Edict

At the request of local politicians, federal housing officials will reconsider an edict that merged individual cities’ public housing waiting lists.

Officials in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo and Ojai had protested the federal decision to combine lengthy waiting lists for subsidized housing. The merger bumped some people from the top of an individual city’s list to near the bottom of the combined countywide list.

In previous letters, federal officials had insisted on carrying out the merger, a move that infuriated local politicians and public housing advocates.

But Tuesday, swayed by an intense lobbying effort, the federal government’s assistant secretary of housing and urban development said she would reconsider the merger.

A team of federal officials will visit Ventura County in the next month to review the issue and will consider reinstating geographically based waiting lists, Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall said from Washington.

“That’s good news,” said Olav Hassel, housing services manager for Thousand Oaks. “This is a totally different approach (for federal officials)--it’s constructive, cooperative and creative. It gives us a tremendous amount of hope.”

If the government follows through with separating the waiting lists, Hassel said, “that means the new public housing project we’re building on Hillcrest Drive (near Hodencamp Road) will be specifically for our own residents.”

To prepare for the federal officials’ visit, city staff will draw up a map showing the geographic barriers--including mountains, rivers and narrow roads--that might make it difficult for residents working in one city to move into public housing in another.