Council to Open 2 Shelters for Homeless

The City Council has voted to use the National Guard Armory on K Street and the Salvation Army facility on Wooley Road to accommodate west county homeless people this winter.

The council decided Tuesday that it also would seek financial assistance from other west county cities to support the only two heated shelters for miles around.

Ojai has the only other shelter set to open this winter in the area, which means homeless people from neighboring cities will seek refuge in Oxnard, council members said.

Councilman Tom Holden expressed frustration that other cities don’t do their share.

“It’s beyond me,” Holden said. “How does this continue? It doesn’t just get cold in Oxnard.”

Councilman Dean Maulhardt voiced concern that agreeing to open the armory as a regional shelter and asking other cities to pitch in is tantamount to holding other cities financially, but not socially, responsible.

“When do we draw our line?” he asked.

Sal Gonzalez, the city’s housing director, told the council a committee is working to devise a permanent regional solution to housing the homeless, which could mean a year-round homeless center in Ventura.

“What we’re hearing is this is the last time this is going to happen” in Oxnard, he said.

Gonzalez also said that other cities plan to bus their homeless to the Oxnard shelters this winter.