Oxnard OKs 24 Apartments for Farm Workers

The Oxnard Planning Commission has approved construction of a 24-unit apartment complex for low-income farm workers, a project backers say will help revitalize downtown while housing the city’s poorest workers.

Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. was approved to build the two- and three-story townhouses on the northwest corner of Meta and 6th streets in the central business district. Construction on the $5.7-million project could begin in about six months, Jesse Ornelas, Cabrillo’s senior project manager, said.

“This is the first project with preference given to farm workers to be built in Oxnard,” Oxnard housing director Sal Gonzales said.

The apartments, which did not need City Council approval, will be built on a vacant lot that was earmarked for affordable housing by the city in 1995, Gonzales said. The city sold the 1.15-acre site to Cabrillo for $295,000, Ornelas said.

The complex is designed for families and will include 18 three-bedroom units and six four-bedroom units. Rents will range from $304 to $980, with some subsidies available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ornelas said. The amount of subsidies will vary for each family, with none paying more than 30% of their income on rent, he said.

The apartments will include frontyards, a courtyard, a children’s play area and a two-car garage per unit, as well as guest parking on the street. Cabrillo is financing nearly $2 million of the construction through grants and loans from city, state and federal agencies and plans to apply for the remaining funds from the California Equity Fund.

Planning commissioners on Thursday questioned the safety of the area, citing a nearby pool hall and an alley known to be a site for drug deals. But overwhelming community and city support for the housing project helped ease fears, Planning Commissioner Michael Clark said.

Voicing support for the project were farm workers, Oxnard police representatives, county Supervisor John Flynn, Oxnard residents and community organizations.

“This is a billion-dollar industry and we need to provide housing for our farm workers,” said Maricela Morales, representing the nonprofit housing group Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

The apartments also fit into the city’s downtown master plan, which calls for increased affordable housing as well as commercial development, Curtis Cannon, community development director, said.

The apartments may soon be followed by other Cabrillo developments that target farm workers, said Karen Flock, the agency’s housing development director.

Cabrillo plans to go before the Planning Commission June 20 with a proposal for a farm worker housing development of 52 apartment units and six single-family homes on Hueneme Road, to be called Villa Cesar Chavez. On July 11, the Planning Commission is scheduled to hear a request to build 26 affordable single-family homes at 7th and Meta streets. Also, 54 apartment units, at least half for farm workers, are in the predevelopment stage for Victoria Boulevard north of Gonzales Road.

Some families told the commission they have been waiting years to find affordable housing.

“I work day and night, but we’ve lived in a trailer park for 17 years,” said farm worker Victor Renteria, 48, who could qualify to live in the new apartments. Together with his wife and five children, Renteria said he has lived in cramped conditions because he cannot afford anything better.

Renteria said he works 80 to 90 hours a week irrigating fields to earn about $25,000 a year, while his wife earns $7,000 to $8,000 a year picking strawberries. “There are a lot of people like us, or in worse conditions,” Renteria said.