County OKs Loan to Fix Damaged Homes
Seeking to speed up efforts to rebuild earthquake-damaged homes, Ventura County supervisors have approved a temporary loan of $300,000 from the county’s general fund to replace delayed federal funds.
The Housing Rehabilitation Program, to be administered by the city of Fillmore to help residents there and in neighboring Piru, needs the funds now to buy materials to help residents repair homes, Administrative Analyst Susan Van Abel said.
Volunteers have been assembled to help repair the homes and the victims have been identified, she said.
“We’re ready to go with the program in Fillmore and Piru, but we don’t have the money because of an administrative holdup with the Community Development Block Grant funds,” Van Abel told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The funds will help Hand to Hand, Habitat for Humanity and the Christian Relief Work Reform Committee work with residents of the two communities to repair homes.
Project organizers have requested a total of $575,000, but the $300,000 will get them started until the federal funds arrive, probably in August, Van Abel said.
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