Meeting minutes: Ojai gets grant for City Hall homeless encampment, more news

Staff reports
·3 min read
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Eight white tents are set up at the Kent Hall parking lot next to Ojai City Hall in January. Ojai officials will receive approximately $12.7 million in state grants to help people living in the encampment.
Eight white tents are set up at the Kent Hall parking lot next to Ojai City Hall in January. Ojai officials will receive approximately $12.7 million in state grants to help people living in the encampment.
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Here's a roundup of local government news:

Grant funds will help residents of Ojai City Hall encampment

Ojai officials will receive approximately $12.7 million in state grants to help the people living in a homeless encampment behind City Hall.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday nearly $192 million in grants to help address homeless encampments across California.

The state’s Encampment Resolution Fund, administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, will fund 20 projects in 17 communities to help people transition from encampments to housing.

Neighboring Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties also received grant funding along with cities and counties around the state.

“We’re just really excited to work together to put our unhoused population on a path to permanent housing,” Mayor Betsy Stix said after the grant was announced during a virtual press conference. “We’re extremely appreciative of the community for their support and assistance.”

The city received the full amount in its grant application to the state, officials said in a news release.

The money will serve 38 people and house 20 with investments in interim housing and permanent supportive housing, the state announcement said.

City officials are looking at options to explore how to use the funding.

– Wes Woods II

Simi Valley gets funds for retail theft task force

The Simi Valley City Council accepted a sub-grant of up to $975,000 Monday night to cover participation in the Ventura County Organized Retail Theft Task Force.

Council members voted 4-0 to accept the funds from the California Board of State and Community Corrections through the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. Councilmember Mike Judge wasn't present for the vote.

The Simi Valley Police Department is assigning one of its detectives this month to the countywide task force, Assistant Police Chief Lincoln Purcell told the council. He said the $975,000 will allow the city to hire one full-time police officer to offset the loss of the detective to the task force. He added the money will cover other costs such as overtime funding for uniformed patrols, up to six automated license plate readers and an education program on theft mitigation and reporting.

“Ventura County estimates it loses nearly $10 million every year due to organized retail theft,” Purcell told the council.

The loss figure for Simi Valley wasn't available, but Purcell said it is substantial.

Besides Simi Valley police and the sheriff's office, police departments in Oxnard, Ventura, Port Hueneme and Santa Paula are participating in the task force. The sheriff's office is contracted to provide police services in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Ojai and Fillmore.

The task force also includes police departments at the Ventura County Community College District and CSU Channel Islands, Purcell told the council.

– Dave Mason

Ojai commissioners OK small housing project

The Ojai Planning Commission on Wednesday OK'd a 13-unit apartment complex with some affordable units on a site with an existing commercial building.

The panel unanimously approved the mixed-use project on a nearly 1.2-acre parcel at 510 E. Ojai Ave. The commercial building will be expanded and a pair of two-story apartment buildings will be constructed, according to a staff report.

Five of the apartments will be affordable. They will cater to a range of earners from very low-income residents who make 50% of the area median income to moderate-income earners at 120% of the median. In Ventura County, the median income is $123,500 for a family of four.

The remaining eight apartments will be market-rate units.

The commission's decision is final unless it is appealed within 15 days. When the appeal window concludes, the developer, Jeffrey Becker, can apply for a building permit.

The project was part of a settlement agreement the city approved with the developer in December. Becker, of Ojai Bungalows LP/The Becker Group Inc., had sued the city in November for taking too much time to hold hearings on several proposed housing projects.

– Wes Woods II

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Meeting minutes: Ojai gets grant for City Hall encampment, more news