City Honored for Homeless Program

In a ceremony at the state’s capital Thursday, Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom accepted an award from Gov. Pete Wilson recognizing the city’s Homeless Emergency Relocation Operation, or HERO program, as a model of community service.

The Helen Putnam Award for Excellence was one of nine awards presented to cities from across the state in a variety of categories during the annual League of California Cities conference in Sacramento.

“It was a real honor,” Tingstrom said in a phone conversation Thursday evening. “These are prestigious awards.”

The HERO program--which provides housing, counseling and employment services to displaced individuals--was created last year after floods washed out more than 100 homeless people living in the Ventura River bottom.

Until the floods, city leaders had been stymied for a solution to the homeless situation.

“It kept getting worse and worse,” Tingstrom recalled. “We weren’t getting anywhere. And then a flood came.”

Men, women and children were living in encampments along the floor of the Ventura River, which concerned environmentalists, law enforcement officials and nearby merchants who complained of panhandlers and theft. But when heavy rains washed out the squatters, council members were forced to act.

“As a council we said, ‘That’s enough,’ ” Tingstrom said. “That’s when this all came together.”

Immediately after the floods, temporary shelter was secured at Camarillo State Hospital. Nearly all of the river-bottom dwellers were later relocated into federally subsidized housing.

Tingstrom said he plans to show off the award at Monday’s City Council meeting. “It’s gorgeous,” the mayor said. “There’s a lot of people who deserve credit.”

The Helen Putnam award is presented annually by the California League of Cities and the nonprofit Institute for Local Self Government.