Navy Hopes Program Opens Door to More Housing

Faced with a housing crunch that will probably worsen in the next few years, local Navy officials are looking to expand a partnership with local landlords that gives sailors first priority on certain off-base rentals.

Under the program, rental property owners agree to waive security deposits, provide refrigerators and give rental discounts to help Navy personnel afford the county’s high rents.

In exchange, the Navy deducts rent out of a sailor’s pay, coordinates move-in and move-out inspections, and--if necessary--handles tenant problems with its own brand of discipline.

If the Navy cannot fill a housing vacancy in a week, which is rare, the owner is free to put it on the open market.

Navy officials, preparing for an influx of 2,500 personnel and their families who will come with a wing of radar planes to be based here, see the program as key to the future of Ventura County bases. And participating property owners also will benefit, said Mercedes Sosa, owner of Galaxy Realty in Oxnard.

“I think it’s a terrific program,” Sosa said. “There are no delays in getting the rent. It’s always there.”

The agreements also keep wayward renters in line, Sosa said. “If there’s a problem,” she said, “one gets in touch with their commanding officer and the problem disappears very quickly.”

The Navy is not the only area employer to help its employees afford housing in the pricey coastal market. UC Santa Barbara, for example, offers home loans and other incentives to attract and keep faculty.

“You invest so much time in training these people,” said Linda Moglia, faculty housing coordinator for the university. “It’s difficult to find the right replacement, and it’s costly.”

The Navy program began in Ventura County last year and covers about 500 rental units, mostly apartments in Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Although Navy officials had hoped to sign up 1,000 rental units by summer, they say they believe the program will expand as property owners spread the word about its benefits.

Although the idea is new on the West Coast, a similar program in Norfolk, Va., covers 10,000 units.

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In Ventura County, the waiting list for on-base housing ranges from six months to a year, officials say. “We’re only covering about 25% of the military families assigned to both bases,” said Capt. Stephen Beal, commanding officer of the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station.

Beyond helping sailors find affordable housing, the program helps the Navy attract and retain good people, Beal said.

“We’re dealing with an all-volunteer force, so we want to keep our quality of life reasonable,” Beal said. “If it’s going to cost families more out of their pockets to live in the Ventura area, it may be harder to get people to come to the jobs.”

Petty Officer Nikuma Molina, a Point Mugu maintenance technician and one of about 30 sailors participating in the program, said it eased what would have otherwise been a stressful move from San Diego to Ventura County.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he said. “I would have had to save for four months to get enough money to move in.”

The program did more than stave off the stress of house hunting for Petty Officer James Bahner. A former resident of Point Mugu’s on-base bachelor housing, Bahner could not move in with his new wife, Angela, until he found off-base housing.

Without the new housing program, Bahner said he would have had to save money for months to pay a housing deposit.

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“It saved me some money and a lot of time,” he said. “Everybody seems to be happy with the deal.”

But officials acknowledge the program has severe shortcomings, especially when it comes to providing scarce family housing.

Many of the families with the newly placed E-2C Hawkeye wing of radar planes have delayed moving to Ventura County until they receive those orders, officials say. Most of the units covered by the set-aside program are one- or two-bedroom apartments that are far too small for most families.

“Most of the people coming in want something bigger than a two-bedroom,” said Vickie Hovatter, a housing administrator at Point Mugu. “We have some three- and four-bedroom units on the set-aside, but we don’t have a lot of them.”

That could change if the program attracts more participants, a possibility that Hovatter and others are pursuing.

“This is a new program on the West Coast,” Hovatter said. “I think people are just reluctant to jump in.”