Homeless Shelter Plan Draws Heated Debate : Ventura: Advocates for the 10-bed downtown facility argue with residents before the City Council.

A proposal to open a homeless shelter in downtown Ventura pitted the mentally ill homeless and their advocates against residents Monday, with both sides arguing the issue late into the night before the Ventura City Council.

The Turning Point Foundation, which operates a drop-in center for the mentally ill on Thompson Boulevard near California Street, has proposed putting 10 roll-away beds in the center to allow clients to spend the night there. The Planning Commission approved the proposal in June.

On Monday, some landowners--one of whom forced the issue onto the council’s agenda by appealing the commission’s decision--argued that the shelter’s clients are already a nuisance and would become more troublesome if a shelter opened.

“We get assaulted constantly from people begging from us,” said Steve Smith, who lives in an apartment complex adjacent to the drop-in center. “Sometimes when you say no they get very argumentative and start cursing at you. Opening the facility, I think, will only attract more people and make it worse.”

Enthusiastic supporters of the project, however, also turned out in droves. They argued that homeless mentally ill people already live in Ventura, and offering them a place to live would help them become better citizens.

Jim Hoffman, who described himself as homeless and mentally ill, said opponents of the shelter “need to wake up and open their eyes. We’re everywhere.”

Joyce Jenkins, a caseworker for the Salvation Army, also voiced strong support for the shelter. “I see what’s happening at Turning Point as an incredible thing,” she said. “They’re going to get people more involved in the community, people who are already here.”

William Orcutt, who owns land across the street from the foundation, filed the appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the project, saying the shelter will only attract more transients to the area.

Under Turning Point’s proposal, officials will clear out one of the building’s two rooms each night starting this fall to make way for the roll-away beds and partitions.

The foundation agreed to certain conditions for its nighttime shelter, including restricting guests to staying no more than 90 nights in a row at the shelter; requiring at least two employees to remain on duty at all times, and adding lighting to the back of the building to discourage homeless people from sleeping there.

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Orcutt, however, says the Turning Point’s clients already create problems in the neighborhood, and allowing them to spend the night would only worsen the situation.

Orcutt lives in San Diego and acknowledged in a recent interview that he has not witnessed any problems. But he said residents who live near his property told him the foundation’s visitors sometimes urinate in public and cause general disturbances.

“If Turning Point is a less than desirable neighbor now, how much better a neighbor will it become with the addition of outside lighting, toilets, a telephone and 10 overnight guests?” he wrote in a letter to the City Council.