VENTURA : Extension of Services for Homeless Sought

Facing a March 31 deadline for closing an assessment center and transitional housing facilities for homeless people, Ventura housing committee members on Wednesday directed staff to begin plans to extend the programs.

Committee members told city officials to begin negotiating with Camarillo State Hospital about allowing homeless flood victims living there now to stay beyond the end of the month.

City officials also will begin planning where to move the assessment center on Ventura Avenue, which also must close or move before March 31.

Critical to the success of the programs, city officials said, is the participation of Ventura County and other cities.

“We have a great model,” said Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures, who heads the city housing committee. “But we need partners.”

Representatives from several nonprofit groups proposed a number of recommendations aimed at keeping services available to those displaced by the January flood.

Some of those suggestions include asking nearby cities for funding, expanding self-help programs and tapping into $1 million in federal money provided the Job Training Policy Council last month for disaster cleanup.

Ventura Community Development Director Everett Millais said he would prepare a report on extending the services for formal consideration by the City Council on March 27.

“I’ll present the council a list of options and a budget to go along with those options,” Millais said.