$261,000 Approved to Help Buy First Homes

Oxnard’s City Council has approved $261,000 in federal funds for a nonprofit housing group that plans to help 10 low-income families become first-time homeowners.

City leaders voted Tuesday to award the money to the Oxnard-based Commission on Human Concerns. The organization plans to use the money to provide grants and low-interest loans ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 to families who otherwise could not afford to buy homes.

As part of the project, the organization plans to build a fund using the loan repayment money to assist other first-time home buyers.

“After we get the 10 families into housing and they start paying their mortgage, part of their mortgage will be paying the interest for the funds that we provided them,” said Lee Riggan, the organization’s executive director.

Riggan said the organization will also sponsor workshops and training sessions for new home buyers on topics that include budget management and low-cost home maintenance and landscaping.

Although the City Council approved money only for the first-time home buyer project, the panel Tuesday also said it supported a proposal by another housing organization to renovate 10 apartments in La Colonia for mentally ill residents.

Partners in Housing, a nonprofit group associated with the Ventura County Mental Health Department, wants to set up a complex that would feature low-rent apartments--charging $250 to $300 a month--as well as an on-site resident manager.

Several La Colonia residents and mental health professionals told the City Council on Tuesday that Oxnard needs such housing projects for the mentally ill.

City officials told the organization that the first-time home buyers project more closely matched Oxnard’s affordable housing goals, but that the city supported the Partners in Housing proposal and would try to find money for it.