County Promoter Leaving for Cheaper Pastures
Joe McClure’s job was to lure businesses to Ventura County by portraying it as a great place to raise a family.
His marketing campaign focused on the county’s reputation for good schools, safe neighborhoods, beautiful weather and uncrowded beaches. “Ventura County: For your life’s work,” went the pitch.
But now the head of the Economic Development Collaborative Ventura County is taking his admittedly large family--there are eight children--and heading to Montana. Try as they might, he and his wife have found that they can no longer afford the California dream.
Although their family is larger than most, the couple also bring home more money than the average Ventura County family. The median household income countywide is $68,500. McClure made $85,000, and his wife earns $50,000 on top of that as an accountant.
But with McClure’s mother-in-law, a full-time nanny and the kids--ages 2 to 17--under one roof, they have outgrown the four-bedroom house they bought three years ago in Simi Valley for $215,000. Housing prices have since climbed.
The type of house the McClures own now would cost about $160,000 in Billings, McClure said. And he has seen a pretty six-bedroom house on half an acre in a prestigious Billings neighborhood for $230,000. He put that same house at $450,000 in Simi Valley and $600,000 in Thousand Oaks.
If they remained in the east county, McClure said, there is no way his wife could stay home and raise the kids as she would like to do. They gave passing thought to moving to Santa Paula or Fillmore, where housing is cheaper but school scores are generally lower.
Montana was a more attractive option, he said.
“I’m a poster child for affordable housing,” McClure said Wednesday at his office in Camarillo. “In the corporate world, my salary range is mid-management. And that’s the problem. [Many companies] can’t recruit people here because they can’t live anywhere.”
The high cost of housing is not the only reason that McClure is headed out of state. He has accepted a post as director of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority in Billings starting next month. It’s a larger agency with more responsibility, which appealed to him.
Still, he said, living and housing costs played a significant role.
McClure will take a $5,000-a-year pay cut at his new post, but the money should go a lot further.
Other families are facing the same situation as they struggle to find homes they can afford in a tight market. “He won’t be the last one to leave,” said Area Housing Authority Director Doug Tapking, who for years has been crusading for cities to encourage construction of more affordable housing.
McClure’s replacement, who has yet to be selected, could feel the squeeze if he or she comes from outside Southern California. A search for a new director has only recently begun. In the meantime, Fillmore Mayor Don Gunderson, who is active in local economic development efforts, will serve as interim director.
Last year, a countywide survey of 104 businesses found that 54% believed that the high cost of housing was impairing their ability to recruit employees.
But Harry Preston, a vice president and broker with CB Richard Ellis in Ventura, said housing costs haven’t deterred many businesses he deals with.
“If you’re trying to get someone from the East Coast, forget about it. But as a regional draw, we’re extremely successful. Companies are expanding once they get here. And they wouldn’t be doing that if the housing costs were such a problem.”
Indeed, McClure said he was able to attract at least four companies through his campaign in the last several months.
“For someone who doesn’t have as many children, it’s perfect,” McClure said of Ventura County. “But for a growing family, it’s difficult.”
