Ventura Officials to Discuss Funding for Affordable Housing

The Gisler sisters grew up on their father’s lima bean farm off Wells Road in east Ventura. Today, those bean fields are hemmed in on every side--by a reservoir, a freeway and housing developments.

Now they too are ready to develop. But one thing stands in their way: the neighbors.

Tonight, the Ventura City Council will consider whether to allocate $1.3 million in federal housing funds for low-income housing in different areas of the city.

The Gislers, working with the Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., have spent much of the last four years trying to get a share of that money for a housing project on their land.

Initially, their plan was to convert their 22 acres of beans into a 146-unit affordable housing complex composed of 66 rental units for low-income families and another 80 affordably priced homes.

After years of objections from neighbors and inaction by the city, the plan now has a more upscale tone to it--just 40 apartments for seniors and 124 to 128 market-rate single-family homes priced at $172,000 to $180,000.

Still, there are objections.

Residents of two adjacent housing developments--Heather Glen, built in the 1970s, and Harvest Homes, developed in the 1980s--are fiercely fighting Cabrillo’s development plans. The fight has gone on for 2 1/2 years now, with no resolution.

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To the Gislers, the issue is whether property owners have the right to develop their land as they wish--and to what extent neighbors should have a say. The politics of where to put low-income housing has only complicated the debate.

“This is arguably a California phenomenon,” said Rodney Fernandez, executive director of Cabrillo. “California has developed a not-in-my-backyard, roll-up-the-drawbridge attitude. But the city has an obligation to provide a variety of homes for its constituents.”

Neighbors argue that the proposed project will bring in extra traffic, push flood waters onto their property, threaten the lives of children who play in the street and strain already overcrowded schools--something the east end can ill afford.

Already, big rains clog the existing drainage system and there is too much traffic for existing roads.

“I am a first-time home buyer,” said Ingrid Hall, who lives in the Harvest Homes development next to the Gisler property. “We just want the best thing for the neighborhood because eventually it will affect everybody’s property values.”

Cabrillo and the Gisler sisters believe they have worked hard to accommodate neighbors. In response to area concerns, they say, they have modified their plans three times. They have reduced the number of low-income units and changed the mix to market-priced homes and senior apartments.

But neighbors say they still have questions about flooding, drainage and traffic.

“We are not against anything going in there,” said Dan Cormode, a resident of Heather Glen. “But we would like to see comparable housing to what is already here.”

By law, 15% of the $1.3 million in federal funds must go to a nonprofit housing organization. Cabrillo was the only housing nonprofit organization in the county, so it stood to automatically get at least that much and at one point was close to receiving $950,000 for the Gisler project.

After protests from east end residents this spring, however, the city decided to consider reallocating that money. Now there are two new nonprofit housing organizations also vying for funds.

The federal funds available to the city for low-income housing have been accumulating over the last four years but have not yet been allocated by the council. Without approval of a project by next June, the city could lose a small part of the $1.3 million it can currently spend.

And after years of negotiating and waiting, the Gisler sisters fear they may lose their chance to develop.

“We were born there. In the ‘60s the freeway took our home. We have 50 years of history on that property--more than the 30 years of the people next door,” Cathie Gisler said. “I feel it’s our turn to develop now. We’ve been waiting long enough.”