Homeless Program Gets $55,000 Grant
Ventura’s Homeless Employment Resource Operation--or HERO--has received a $55,000 grant to continue finding jobs and homes for homeless people in Ventura.
The grant flows from federal housing funds known as Community Development Block Grants.
The new grant will allow the now independent nonprofit organization to resume the work it halted in July, when it ran out of money.
Born of the 1995 floods that washed out more than 100 squatters living in the Ventura River bottom, the award-winning homeless assistance program has made great strides in helping people in Ventura.
According to a city staff report, 46 of the original 50 households that had lived in the river bottom remain in subsidized housing today. Before the HERO program, every homeless person who received a housing subsidy lost it, and usually ended up back on the street.
In the past year, 179 people have participated in the HERO job club, 184 people have participated in crew work and 14 people have been placed in permanent full-time jobs.
Bill Barbee, a member of HERO’s governing board, said that even though the program has been formally closed since July, many projects have continued. He also said that several Americorps workers would be helping to administer the program over the next 10 months.
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