VENTURA : Agency Sought to Run Homeless Center

With $105,000 set aside to continue operating a homeless assistance center in Ventura, the City Council is looking for a nonprofit agency to administer the health and educational program past July.

The council has invited bids from area social service groups to take over management of the Ventura Avenue center, a relief effort that was opened days after flooding forced homeless campers out of the river bottom in January.

Workers at the Homeless and Emergency Relocation Operation center have served nearly 300 people over the past five months, including more than 100 who previously lived in the riverbed.

The center was scheduled to close July 31, but with the added funding from the 1995-96 budget, officials hope the project will become self-sufficient.

Council members agreed to solicit the bids at their meeting Monday night with virtually no discussion--a move one official said was a positive sign.

“There’s some good planning going on there and we’re headed in the right direction,” Mayor Tom Buford said. “This may be one of those cases where the absence of controversy is indicative of progress being made on the public policy front.”

The program requires a director to coordinate services, solicit labor contracts and private contributions and continue running a transitional housing program.