Council Studies Plans for Housing Subsidies

Faced with strong objections from neighborhood residents, the City Council on Monday struggled with whether to tentatively allocate federal funds to provide low-income housing in east Ventura.

By June, the city must give the Department of Housing and Urban Development a preliminary plan for spending $1.27 million in low-income housing money or lose the funding.

“This is primarily to pass information on to HUD through the county,” said Everett Millais, director of community services. “You are not locked in at all.”

Last May, the council voted not to give $970,000 to the Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. to build 99 affordable homes in east Ventura near Wells Road.

But Monday night, Rodney Alvarez, who heads the organization, presented a new, even more ambitious plan to construct low-income housing. Alvarez suggested building 40 apartments for seniors that would have subsidized rents and 128 single-family homes.

A city staff report suggested that the council give $200,000 to Cabrillo Economic Development, which would satisfy a federal requirement that 15% of the annual funds go to a local nonprofit organization that helps provide housing for low-income residents.

However, nearly a dozen Ventura residents beseeched the council to not give money to Cabrillo Economic Development or approve its project.

“I’m here opposing Cabrillo’s development because of increased problems in traffic on Citrus Drive,” said Julie Millsap, a resident of the affected neighborhood who conducted her own traffic count. “We are concerned for the children in the 230 apartments now on Citrus Drive.”

The earlier Cabrillo project drew even greater criticism. More than 100 residents protested the group’s original proposal last spring, saying that east Ventura is already too crowded to handle additional housing.

The area is already choked with single-family homes, affordable housing for first-time buyers and multifamily dwellings, according to Loretta McCarty, an associate planner in the city’s Community Services Department. In recent years, real estate development has taken place predominantly in the east end of town, straining schools and roads.

City planners say the only place Ventura can still grow is on its western end, which is already home to most of Ventura’s poorest residents.

The council considered whether to distribute the federal money for the following purposes:

* $720,000 to buy and renovate the 60-year-old brick Casa de Anza building along Ventura Avenue.

* $156,000 would be used by the Homeless Employment Resource Operation to purchase a three-unit apartment building to house recently employed homeless people.

* $200,000 for a pilot program to rehabilitate rental apartments along Ventura Avenue and downtown.

The council requested that staff get more information on the Casa de Anza and Cabrillo projects and voted to continue discussion at a future meeting.