Federal Grant Enables County Homeless Shelter to Remain Open

Ventura County’s transitional homeless shelter has received from the federal government a funding boost aimed at keeping the facility up and running the next three years.

The Camarillo-based shelter was awarded a $643,000 grant by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, part of a $2.1-million allocation to local agencies to provide long-term housing and resources for homeless people countywide.

The money, to be paid out over three years, comes at a crucial time for the project--known as River-dwellers Aid Intercity Network, or RAIN--the county’s only transitional shelter for homeless families.

County leaders this month are scheduled to start sifting through the budget to find ways to offset a projected $5-million shortfall brought on by fines and payouts associated with state and federal investigations of the county’s health-care system.

Every department will come under scrutiny. And that can be a troubling prospect for a program such as RAIN, which often has found itself on the chopping block.

Just two months ago, the Board of Supervisors grudgingly approved spending $296,000 to keep the shelter’s doors open through June. At that time, county leaders made it clear that other funding sources would have to be found to keep the shelter afloat in the future.

“This is a great time to be telling the general fund that we’re going to need less money,” said Kathy Jenks, director of the county department that oversees the shelter. “Any time you can give [supervisors] some savings, it’s a big relief.”

The homeless assistance money is part of a $900-million allocation announced last week by the Clinton administration. The money will go to 1,834 programs nationwide dedicated to permanently lifting individuals and families out of homelessness.

The county of Ventura will receive a $1.1-million allocation, and the city of Oxnard will get $970,267, both over the next three years.

That money will be spread among eight agencies, including the Commission on Human Concerns, Thousand Oaks-based housing provider Many Mansions, and the Turning Point Foundation, a private nonprofit agency that provides services to the homeless mentally ill.

Clinton’s Christmas Day announcement was billed as the latest step in a renewed assault on homelessness across the country.

But Dan Hardy, executive director of Many Mansions and president of the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition, said there has been little evidence locally of the government’s stepped-up campaign.

“This isn’t any more than what we’ve gotten in the past. Actually, it’s less, if you take into account the cost of inflation,” Hardy said. “The picture seems to be getting worse every year.”

That said, Hardy is grateful for any money he can get. Many Mansions will receive $348,722 over the next three years. The money will be used to subsidize rents at a low-cost housing project under development in the 1400 block of Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

The housing provider is converting an old motel into 50 studio apartments, 15 of which will be set aside for formerly homeless people with disabilities. The project also includes space for a Sheriff’s Department resource center and a range of social service programs.

Turning Point will receive $274,972 to help buy and convert a building on Wooley Road in Oxnard into seven units of permanent housing for the homeless mentally ill.

Turning Point already leases the building and operates a transitional program for that population at the South Oxnard site, said Clyde Reynolds, the group’s executive director.

Now, Reynolds said, some of these people will have a permanent, affordable place to live.

“I was very excited,” Reynolds said of receiving the federal grant. “One more grant allows us to create one more piece in the system.”