Housing Authority to Return City Land

Ventura County Area Housing Authority officials did not build low-income housing on property given to them by the city of Camarillo--so the city has asked that the property be returned.

Over the last eight years, city officials have turned over two vacant lots and leased another to the housing authority to build and manage low-income housing for area residents. But all three lots are still vacant.

“We had intended for these pieces of property to provide housing and after eight years, some of us are getting impatient,” Mayor Charlotte Craven said.

According to agreements between the city and the authority, two to three units were to be built on each of the lots, located on Raemere Street, Mobil Avenue and Barry Street.

Doug Tapking, housing authority executive director, said project plans had been developed, but “the actual cost of putting the project together in the end rose to the point where it economically didn’t make sense.”

City Council members were to discuss retrieving the properties at tonight’s meeting, but the item was pulled from agenda when Tapking told the city manager that he agreed to transfer the lots back to the city.

The next step for council members is to determine which nonprofit organization should develop the properties.

Craven said she would first like to approach Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., the housing group that leases and manages a 13-unit low-income housing project called Casa Valesquez with a successful resident council.

But if funding is a problem for Cabrillo, Craven said she would then recommend donating the land to Habitat for Humanity, which would build single-family dwellings on each lot, rather than apartment units.