Ventura to Consider Year-Round Homeless Shelter

The city of Ventura may come one step closer to gaining a year-round homeless shelter this week.

The City Council is being asked to endorse a proposal for the shelter and a request for funding--a milestone after a three-year effort and two earlier proposals that did not pass council muster.

“I think the council is ready to step forward and be a partner in the process,” said Mayor Ray DiGuilio, who anticipates a favorable vote. Project Understanding, a faith-based nonprofit agency, has proposed a facility that would offer emergency shelter, longer-term transitional housing, help in finding permanent housing and other services. Project Understanding would run the shelter.

“This is not just a shelter, but a homeless service center,” DiGuilio said.

“This would be intended for people who want to end their homelessness,” said Richard Pearson, executive director of Project Understanding, which has seen two previous proposals turned down because city officials wanted more information. The facility would fill what has long been a void in services in Ventura County, he said.

“Right now, if a family came to us, there would be nowhere they could spend the night tonight,” Pearson said.

Pearson estimates there are 2,000 to 4,000 homeless men, women and children in the county.

Currently, there are only a few places where homeless people can find a bed for the night, and Project Understanding and RAIN in Camarillo offer some transitional housing. In addition, Oxnard and Ventura set up emergency shelters each winter.

Pearson, however, said no place in the county offers the range of services and housing that the new facility would offer. He hopes to accommodate 30 to 40 people in the emergency shelter and about 50 in the transitional housing. Once at the shelter, a person or family would have to begin a plan to escape homelessness, with the help of a counselor, Pearson said.

The center also would have many of the services that Project Understanding has long offered, such as showers, laundry service and mail pickup.

Even after action by the council, many obstacles would remain before the proposal could become a reality. If the council endorses the proposal, it would next be reviewed by the county. If the Board of Supervisors approves it, the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition’s Continuum of Care committee would forward the request to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“If it’s approved for funding, then we’re into the first major step,” DiGuilio said. “This is a first step, but an important first step.”

Although city staff members have recommended the council approve the proposal, there are lingering concerns, said Nicole Doner, a Community Development Block Grant housing planner with the city.

“At this point, the city has decided that we can approve the proposal with conditions,” Doner said.

Chief among the city’s concerns is that Project Understanding lacks a plan for long-term funding. Also, the city would like to see more agreements between Project Understanding and other social service agencies that would provide more services at the shelter.

But the city has taken the lead in beginning to resolve the last of its concerns--location. Doner said the city next week will form a staff committee to meet with community members. Pearson said Project Understanding had focused on the Telephone Road area in eastern Ventura--an area he describes as mostly industrial and commercial but with two bus lines running through it. He does not expect the city to set its sights so narrowly, however.

“It’s a completely open process,” Pearson said. “I think their intention is to keep all options open.”