Names of Prospective Tenants Drawn

The names of 23 people who hope to be the first tenants in the county’s new complex for the low-income mentally ill were selected in a drawing Thursday, an event that housing advocates considered a milestone.

Tenants are expected to move in by early September, after housing officials determine whether applicants meet diagnosis and tenant history requirements.

The remaining 106 will be placed on a waiting list in the order their names were drawn.

More than 200 people requested applications for Villa Calleguas, a 24-unit complex on the county’s 19-acre Lewis Road property near Camarillo.

The apartments are specially designed to help mentally disabled adults live on their own with limited supervision. A manager will live on the property and monitor tenants.

Supervisor Judy Mikels was among the group that drew the folded applications from a bingo tumbler.

“It was great fun to think you might be giving somebody a chance,” Mikels said.

Among the names drawn was that of a young man who recently became homeless, said Ed Adams, chief operating officer of the county Area Housing Authority.

“We had kind of lost track of him, until we found out he did qualify,” Adams said. “That’s the best thing that ever happened in this young man’s life.”

Villa Calleguas tenants pay 30% of their income or $15 a month in rent, depending on their ability to pay.

The project is being built through a partnership of the county Behavioral Health Department, the nonprofit Partners in Housing and the Area Housing Authority of Ventura County.

The county earmarked $456,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build the $2.7-million project. The remaining $2.24 million came from a federal grant.

More than $90,000 annually in federal funds will be used to operate and maintain the property.

The complex is near the 30-bed Las Posadas complex for the mentally ill and Casa Pacifica, which provides 63 beds for homeless and emotionally disturbed children.