City OKs Funding for Affordable Housing Project

Helping to bring more affordable housing to the Conejo Valley, the Thousand Oaks City Council has agreed to give a $750,000 grant to the Ventura County Area Housing Authority to support construction of an 11-unit townhome project.

Lower-income families will be able to rent the two-bedroom, one-bathroom townhomes near the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall for less than $1,000 a month once the project is completed late next year, said Douglas Tapking, the authority’s executive director. To qualify, a family of four would have to earn less than $36,000 a year.

“This is a very significant project for the . . . people who will get a roof over their heads and will have their lives improved by having a little extra money left over at the end of the month,” Tapking said.

Each unit at the complex, to be called Sunset Villas, will have about 1,000 square feet of living space on two stories and a carport, he said. The $2.4-million project will be built on a vacant lot at 3302 Los Robles Road.

Tapking said there are about 2,000 people on a waiting list for affordable housing in the county, including senior citizens, college students and families.

In Thousand Oaks, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment ranges from $1,300 to $1,500 a month, according to Tapking.

Helping Families Live Where They Work

For those selected for the 11 units, “it will cut back on their commuting time, save gas, help the air be cleaner and improve their quality of life, because they can spend more time at home instead of traveling to and from work,” Deputy City Manager Scott Mitnick said.

The city redevelopment grant, which the City Council unanimously approved at its meeting last week, will come from a fund set aside for affordable housing, Mitnick said. State rules require cities to use 20% of their property tax receipts generated within redevelopment areas in support of affordable housing.

Loan to Cover Most of the Cost

The Housing Authority spent $325,000 on the land for Sunset Villas, and the agency has secured a $1.33-million loan from Camarillo Community Bank to help cover development costs.

The authority owns about 600 low-income units in the county, including projects in Ventura, Camarillo, Ojai, Moorpark, Fillmore and Thousand Oaks. The latter is home to more than a third of those units, including 50 three-bedroom apartments on Hillcrest Drive and a complex on Los Feliz Drive with 49 apartments ranging from two to four bedrooms.