Council to Consider Triplex for Homeless
Ventura City Council members on Monday are set to consider paying $196,000 to buy a three-unit apartment complex to house newly employed homeless people trying to get back on their feet.
The triplex, in the 200 block of Vince Street, will house low-income clients of Ventura’s Homeless Employment Resource Operation (HERO) project.
The $196,000 grant used to purchase the triplex flows mainly from federal housing funds approved for this project by the City Council in November.
Bob Costello, executive director of the HERO project, says the triplex will be modeled after the existing Harrison House, which offers transitional housing for men. Each participant can stay for six months and must pay $150 a month to live there.
“You are employed when you go in, you save up your money, and you go on from there,” Costello explained.
According to Costello, Harrison House was set up more than two years ago as part of the city’s emergency relocation program for homeless people living on the Ventura River bottom who were dislocated by powerful winter floods.
“It’s been very successful,” Costello said. “It’s sort of a model program, as far as my experience.”
The new triplex will hold up to 12 people, and may house women, Costello said.
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