Shelter for Homeless Families Funded

The county’s only transitional homeless shelter for families was saved for another eight months Tuesday when supervisors approved spending $296,000 to keep the doors open through June.

The unanimous decision to spend the general contingency funds came after several residents told supervisors that closing the River-dwellers Aid Intercity Network, or RAIN, would force 61 people--including 33 children--onto the streets.

“To close RAIN would be a travesty,” said Laura Purcell of Camarillo, who is a volunteer at the shelter at the Camarillo Airport. “To balance the budget on the backs of the poor and marginalized would be unconscionable.”

Supervisor Judy Mikels said she would vote to fund RAIN under the condition that more of the county’s 10 cities pitch in next year. So far this fiscal year, Oxnard has allocated $250,000 and Camarillo has contributed $5,000 for operational expenses.

Mikels said that this was the last year the county would cover the lion’s share of the cost to keep the shelter open. “If we keep funding it, it takes away the incentive for people to see this as a regional issue,” she said.

Supervisors also decided to study the idea of moving the shelter to a nearby building formerly used by the Assn. for Retarded Citizens at 1732 S. Lewis Road. Supervisors cannot commit to the move until an environmental review is completed on a site for a planned $65-million juvenile justice center.

The former ARC building is listed as an alternative site for the juvenile center should the review uncover environmental problems at a preferred 40-acre site in Saticoy.

But if supervisors decide to convert the old ARC building to a permanent shelter, they want all the county’s cities to help cover the $770,000 renovation cost. So far, Ventura has set aside $40,000 toward “brick and mortar” for a new facility.

Supervisor Kathy Long, who co-chairs a countywide homeless task force, said mayors of most of the cities have already committed to ongoing funding for a permanent shelter.

That committee was formed last winter, after a controversy erupted between county and city officials over which agency should provide shelter for the county’s poor. Arguing that too many homeless shelters existed in their city, Ventura officials last winter refused to provide any funding for a temporary cold-weather shelter.

Supervisor Frank Schillo suggested that the countywide committee look into building more homeless shelters--including some for the mentally ill homeless--on the 14-acre property where ARC is located.

“Every year we say, ‘Whoops! RAIN doesn’t have any money. What are we going to do now?’ ” Schillo said. “It’s time to start doing something about that.”

Spending for the shelter was one of two exceptions supervisors made in their final budget adjustments for this fiscal year. Facing a $1.9-million deficit by the end of the year, county administrators recommended no requests for funding be honored at this time.

In addition to the $296,000 allocation, supervisors agreed Tuesday to hire a translator in the county’s public defender’s office for $44,400.