Schillo Proposes Car Loans to Help Needy With Jobs

In what he says would be an unprecedented move, Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo is proposing that the county provide low-cost loans to help welfare recipients buy cars to get to their jobs.

“We have a new responsibility to get people employed,” Schillo said, referring to new welfare reform measures aimed at getting people off public assistance. “They can’t get to work without a car.”

Under the state’s welfare reform law, which takes effect in January, welfare recipients will have two years to find jobs.

But state and county officials agree that one of the biggest barriers to getting people off welfare and into the job market is transportation.

“We said there are two major issues that are barriers to people on welfare finding jobs,” said state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who sat on the state welfare reform committee. “They are child care and transportation.”

The transportation problem is particularly acute outside urban areas, where public transportation is infrequent, or nonexistent.

“I don’t think anyone up in Sacramento has thought about transportation, other than give them bus tokens, or give them passes,” Schillo said. “But in the state, there are a lot of areas that are not urban that have a lot of the same problems as Ventura. This will probably end up being a model that can be duplicated outside the county.”

Although details of the program have yet to be ironed out, Schillo’s proposal is already drawing criticism.

“I think that this far outreaches the role of government,” said H. Jere Robings, president of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers. “It’s one thing to provide food stamps for food, or housing subsidies for housing, but when we get into purchasing automobiles, I think we have stepped over the line.”

Even though he acknowledged that he knew nothing of the proposal, Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R--Northridge) said “offhand, it sounds like it’s completely nuts.”

But Schillo defended his proposal.

“This is not a giveaway program,” he said. “This is a boot-strapping program. This will give people the opportunity to look for jobs anywhere in the county and be able to get there.”

Under Schillo’s plan, the county would buy used public and private vehicle fleets, and then sell them for below-market price to welfare recipients.

The first year of the program, the county would use General Fund money to purchase vehicles, Schillo said. If the program proves successful, future funds would come out of the county’s Public Social Services Agency’s budget, he said.

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“All the money [for the cars] will be paid back through loans,” he said, adding that the program would not cost taxpayers any money.

As Schillo envisions the plan, the county would guarantee the car loans, thereby allowing welfare recipients to get an affordable interest rate and reduced loan payments.

Schillo said he has already met with faculty at Ventura College to discuss having students repair run-down cars for the program. He said he has also talked to the local Gas Station Owners Assn. about fixing more complex mechanical problems.

In addition, Schillo said, he has consulted with representatives from the Ventura County Federal Credit Union about the program as well.

“They said they are interested,” he said. “There is nothing signed. We are working with them. They seem to feel they could take over ownership of the car, or finance the car for that person. Hopefully it would be a low-interest loan.”

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Schillo emphasized that the program would be aimed at getting people to work--not doling out cars.

“That car would be available to them only as long as they worked,” Schillo said. “If they’re not working, they would have to turn in the car. I’m not interested in just funding joy rides.”

The proposed program would stop short of attempting to help recipients pay car insurance costs, Schillo said.

Earlier this year, county Supervisors Kathy Long and John K. Flynn proposed that the Board of Supervisors enlist church, community organizations and service club volunteers to drive welfare recipients to work.

The county sent out letters to various service organizations and businesses last month soliciting their help.

Reached Wednesday, Long said she still considers transportation--or the lack of it--a sometimes insurmountable obstacle to those struggling to get off welfare.

She said that in addition to supporting Schillo’s plan, she will continue to look at other solutions to getting car-less welfare recipients to work.

“In our county, we don’t have mass transit,” Long said. “Nor do we have a solid bus system that goes intercity, that is efficient enough, or runs often enough for people to get to work for typical 9-to-5 working hours.”

She cited the example of an Oxnard resident without a car trying to get to a job at the Camarillo outlet mall.

“It takes hours to get there,” she said.