Council to Discuss Funds for Homeless

Council members are scheduled to discuss Wednesday whether the city should provide financial assistance for a countywide effort to shelter the homeless.

City leaders had earlier refused requests to join neighboring cities in providing funds for a winter shelter. The Salvation Army is expected to operate a shelter at a National Guard Armory in Oxnard.

Bill Little, the retired city manager, summed up Camarillo’s stance when the issue of a shelter surfaced two months ago: “Our position is we don’t have a [homeless] problem to address. This is one of those things where the county, which has a legal obligation to help these people, is looking for someone to help them with that obligation.”

An ad hoc committee formed by the Ventura Council of Governments called homelessness a countywide problem and said the county has a statutory role as provider of last resort for those without shelter.

Oxnard has already pledged more than $43,000 toward a winter shelter program, and Ventura has said it would contribute $40,000.

Camarillo officials have said their city has fewer than a dozen homeless and that most of those people are just passing through town.

Little said Camarillo already makes substantial contributions to several organizations that care for the homeless and provides more than $30,000 annually to groups that specifically target the problem.

Last month, the council debated whether to join a countywide committee studying the homeless problem and looking for possible solutions. Council members agreed to monitor the committee and said they would wait to decide whether to participate.

The council will discuss the shelter funding issue Wednesday at its regular meeting at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 601 Carmen Drive.