Center Tries to Meet Needs of Homeless : Ventura: Almost 100 transients sign up for services at storefront assessment office, which opens in wake of city’s ban on camping along the river.

Nearly 100 homeless people jammed Ventura’s storefront assessment center Tuesday, signing up for a variety of social services available for the first time to the city’s transients under one roof.

The one-stop center opened in the morning rain to a rush of wet and eager men, women and children. It was created in response to the city’s prohibition against camping along the Ventura River.

Officials declared the river bottom off limits this month after floodwaters ripped out homeless encampments there, killing one man and sending other squatters scrambling to safety.

Many of those displaced from what was the county’s oldest and largest homeless community crowded into the new Ventura Avenue facility to take advantage of the joint city and county effort to match them with housing and social services.

By 2 p.m., 85 homeless people had registered at the center, which was hurriedly set up in an unfinished Ventura Avenue storefront lacking heating and overhead lighting. Others registered but were told to come back today.

Behind rows of wooden desks on loan from the county, counselors and health and social service workers dispensed information and helped the transients sign up for services.

“Everybody is trying to do the best they can for us,” said Ted Edwards, who, was displaced with his wife and 2-year-old daughter from a three-room river bottom shack.

“It was fun living down there while it lasted, but we knew it had to come to an end eventually,” Edwards said. “It was a beautiful place to live, but we know we can’t go back down there.”

Down there, as Edwards put it, is a river bottom now patrolled around the clock by police officers and sheriff’s deputies to ensure the homeless never return.

Ventura City Council members debated for months about kicking the transients out, but held off for fear of violating the squatters’ civil rights.

But when floods washed out the homeless community, city officials seized on the opportunity to keep the homeless out for good.

Council members agreed to establish an assessment center to help former river bottom dwellers ease back into the mainstream. On Monday, the City Council allocated $13,900 toward that effort.

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The center, at 303 N. Ventura Ave., is expected to stay open at least through the end of February. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.

The city already has spent about $9,000 to install toilets, sinks and electricity at the center. Another $4,900 will pay utility bills and other expenses.

Also on Monday, the council earmarked about $30,000 to help house and feed the displaced squatters for the next few weeks. About 40 beds are now available, and local officials are drawing up contracts with Ventura churches for more shelter.

Federal officials promised last week that Ventura would receive up to 200 emergency housing vouchers that would allow homeless people to move into apartments or hotel rooms and pay a subsidized rent. Those vouchers have not been received.

In addition, the council Monday also approved a set of city laws that allow police to jail anyone caught sleeping along the Ventura and Santa Clara rivers.

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“It’s obvious that we can’t allow people to go back into the river bottom and put our safety people at risk,” Councilman Steve Bennett said Monday night. “But whether we are doing everything else right--I’d need the wisdom of a Solomon to know that.”

There were others who were nervous about the new approach to dealing with the homeless.

When the doors opened Tuesday at the assessment center, workers were unsure what to expect. It took little time to realize everything would be all right.

At noon, the center closed for an hour to give workers a break.

Vikki Smith, who runs a homeless outreach program for the County Mental Health Services Department, gathered the social workers in a circle and thanked them for their effort.

“I feel really relieved,” she told them. “I think this probably was a real test for us. I think these folks were checking us out. But everybody did great; you all deserve a pat on the back.”

Randall Feltman, mental health services director, said the assessment center is the first step in a long process to help the homeless get back on their feet.

“Before we have a plan, we need to know who they are and what their needs are,” Feltman said. “What you have here is the beginning of a partnership which I believe can make a difference in these people’s lives.”