Homeless to Be Housed at Hospital : Aid: Thirty displaced residents of the Ventura River bottom will have temporary shelter at unused facility that city is leasing.

Ventura officials unveiled plans Wednesday to relocate 30 displaced residents of the Ventura River bottom to Camarillo State Hospital, a major step in a recently launched effort to help the former riverbed dwellers back on their feet.

The city this week signed an agreement to lease a 13,000-square-foot complex on the hospital grounds, a sprawling campus at the foot of the mountains just south of Camarillo.

The unused unit--removed from the main part of the hospital and its 950 patients--will offer meals, linen service and other amenities to homeless people washed out of their riverbed encampments by floodwaters last month.

Other features include a large day room, complete with a color television, regular bus service and an enclosed courtyard where the homeless can keep their dogs.

“It’s a neat facility,” said Carol Green, assistant to the Ventura city manager. “A lot of the homeless people are really exhausted and they need a place where they can collapse and rest as they prepare to get back into the mainstream.

“Obviously, now that we have this, we’re anxious to get it open.”

Officials are in the process of hiring staff members to run the facility and hope to have it open by next week. The hospital is charging a one-time move-in fee of $500 and rent of $100 a month. The city will also be charged minor fees for meals, linen service and utilities.

The unit, made up of four dormitories, is scheduled to close to the homeless on March 31.

Randall Feltman, the county’s mental health services director, said beds will only be offered to former river-bottom residents displaced by the floods.

*

And he said the facility will house those who show the greatest potential of rejoining the mainstream.

“We are not going to send high-risk people there,” Feltman said. “By and large, I think that facility will house the people who we really feel are serious about moving to a job and a more independent lifestyle.”

After floodwaters ripped out river-bottom encampments earlier this month, city officials declared the riverbed area off limits to the homeless.

At the same time, the city allocated $13,900 toward the creation of an assistance center, where the homeless could go and take advantage of a web of social services.

So far, about 170 people have signed up for services at that center, at 303 N. Ventura Ave.

City leaders also earmarked $30,000 to help house and feed the displaced squatters.

In the past two weeks, churches and nonprofit agencies have opened their doors to the homeless. Turning Point Foundation, which serves Ventura’s mentally ill, opened a 10-bed shelter for former river-bottom residents.

And the Apostolic Assembly Church on North Ventura Avenue took in 18 of the riverbed dwellers.

*

“We simply wanted to contribute to the homeless individuals in our community,” said Gus Hernandez, associate pastor at the Apostolic church. “We just came to the conclusion that this is our duty.”

With the complex at Camarillo State Hospital, officials now say they have enough beds to house all of those displaced from the river bottom until March 31. The shelters at Turning Point and the Apostolic church are also scheduled to close on that date.

Officials are still waiting for the federal government to make good on its promise to deliver up to 200 housing vouchers that would allow homeless people to move into apartments or hotel rooms and pay a subsidized rent.

“It’s spectacular, amazing, that we’ve gone from having only a warming shelter to having more than 90 beds,” Feltman said. “A lot of people have helped out during this time of need.”