Camarillo eyes Days Inn for homeless housing

The City of Camarillo is considering using the Days Inn as a site for permanent and temporary housing for individuals who are homeless if the city receives Project Homekey funds. 

The proposed Homekey project involves renovating the building to create 62 units of permanent housing with wraparound services, a 20-bed navigation center for temporary housing and one unit for a resident manager. 

The city plans to submit a joint Homekey application with the County of Ventura and Jamboree Housing Corp., one of California’s largest nonprofit developers of affordable housing. The City Council will consider allocating $5.4 million of city funds toward the development and operation of the site at a future meeting. 

The state is expected to announce Homekey funding recipients in August, and city staff said the housing could open as early as December 2024.

Ventura supes approve homeless shelter support

The Board of Supervisors has approved a revenue sharing agreement with the City of Thousand Oaks to provide financial support for a permanent year-round shelter with 30 beds for homeless individuals and families. 

The agreement includes an initial capital funding of $2 million and an annual operations funding of $450,000. The shelter will be complementary to the new permanent housing project in the city, which received $26.7 million in Project Homekey Funds to convert the Quality Inn into 77 units of housing. 

The County is committed to funding operations on a 50/50 cost share with local communities committed to developing emergency shelters within their communities, subject to the constraints of the County's budget. The development cost per bed for the Thousand Oaks shelter is slightly higher than the other two projects, but the ongoing operations are lower. 

The County's share of development costs for the project is estimated at $2 million for development and ongoing operations of about $453,000 per year. The Board will receive annual status reports on the shelter's occupancy and success in placing people into permanent housing. 

The revenue sharing agreement passed unanimously.

Guest Commentary: In Santa Barbara homeless and vagrants are not the same

In an article for the Montecito Journal, Lang Martinez, who has experienced homelessness as a former addict, argues that chronic vagrancy and homelessness are two different sets of problems and should be treated as such. 

He claims that the government's Housing First Model and programs like Project Room Key have had a less than desirable outcome for sustaining an individual in long-term permanent housing solutions. Millions of dollars are being spent on these programs, but the funds lack public scrutiny and transparency, and outcomes are not measured effectively. 

Santa Barbara supes consider housing lease for homeless in Santa Maria | Santa Barbara County

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will consider a lease to create temporary interim housing for homeless residents in Santa Maria. 

The proposed location is a vacant county-owned land in Santa Maria, and the project involves the construction of 94 cabins to house individuals or couples until they can move into permanent housing. The cabins will be divided into three categories: 54 for chronically homeless individuals and couples, 10 for transitional age youth, and 30 for recuperative/respite care. 

The project is a public-private collaboration involving Good Samaritan Shelters, Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley, Dignity Health’s Marian Regional Medical Center, DignityMoves, community philanthropy, and the county. The estimated cost to create Hope Village is $5 million, and it will be operated annually at $1.5 million, with funding available for three years. 

The meeting to discuss the item will take place in Santa Barbara, and testimony can be made in person or remotely. Source: Noozhawk