Summit on Housing for Poor Sought

THOUSAND OAKS â€”  Stepping up their efforts to reach out to this city’s working poor, social activists Thursday called on City Council members to take part in a summit meeting on affordable housing in the Conejo Valley.

The activists have seized on last month’s discovery of an overcrowded ghetto near City Hall to pressure officials for change. Building inspectors ordered about half of the 50 Latino workers living in sheds and huts at the shantytown to vacate the unsafe property, but they just found shelter at other hidden slums in this wealthy suburb.

In response, the City Council authorized the creation of a tough anti-slumlord ordinance that would hit property owners with fines and speed criminal actions against them. Officials also promised to work closely with charities the next time they uncover a rundown building and order people to move.

But at a meeting with officials at City Hall on Thursday, social activists raised the stakes.

Officials of the Thousand Oaks-based affordable housing group Many Mansions said they have been trying for about a year to get council members to hold a meeting on the issue. Now, Many Mansions and the county’s Area Housing Authority plan to host a September summit aimed at finding ways to increase housing options for low-income residents of the Conejo Valley.

If Thousand Oaks council members are truly committed to helping those living in overcrowded ghettos, said Otto Stoll, co-chairman of Many Mansions, they will take part in the unprecedented summit and set aside money to help poor workers find adequate homes.

“The lack of affordable housing is at the root of this,� Stoll said, suggesting the city help Many Mansions buy aging apartment buildings and convert them into subsidized housing. “We really need to get our arms around the problem. I really don’t think council members have a full understanding of the problem.�

Stoll said the summit would include business people, political leaders and charitable groups. In the meantime, activists plan to go before the council next month with a series of requests.

They announced the Thousand Oaks Police Department has agreed to let the city’s fledgling Latino advocacy group, the Hispanic Organization for Personal Excellence (HOPE), use its community policing van. Members of the group will go to Hispanic neighborhoods to discuss tenants’ rights and get a sense of what apartment conditions are like. Activists have asked the city to give the group $5,000 for the outreach effort.

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In addition, activists have requested that the city set aside $5,000 to be drawn on the next time people are ordered out of unsafe rental property. The money would be used to help the displaced find homes.

Moreover, they want the city to lend money to local homeless assistance groups. Mary Ann Decaen, coordinator for Catholic Charities in Ventura County, said nonprofit groups often wait months for the state and federal governments to reimburse them for their expenses. The groups want to take out loans from the city and pay the city back once the federal and state reimbursements are received.

Councilman Mike Markey said he welcomes the summit, but added that finding money for social projects is always difficult.

“As far the summit, I have no problem with that whatsoever. I’m sure there are people living in conditions [similar to] the shantytown,� Markey said. “Unfortunately, there’s only so much money that goes around, there are only so many tax dollars that go around. . . . Thousand Oaks is near build-out as far as land. If somebody already owns the land, we can’t force them to build affordable housing.�

Councilwoman Linda Parks said that with a recent spate of new retail developments, Thousand Oaks is poised to see an increase in low-income workers struggling to find affordable apartments.

“Things like Target and Sam’s Club, they pay minimum wage,� Parks said. She said that the city should focus on converting rundown apartments into affordable housing.

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Also Thursday, activists said they would ask the city to draw up a law requiring owners of slums to pay for moving expenses if tenants have to leave because apartments are declared unsafe. Officials at the Area Housing Authority also said they would ask the federal government to allocate Section 8 certificates for rent subsidy to the displaced residents.

“It’s obvious the city needs a larger stick to deal with the owners of slums,� said Olav Hassel, Thousand Oaks’ housing services director. “On the carrot side, we need to make sure there are adequate resources.�

Activists said April’s shantytown discovery has brought the issue of affordable housing to the forefront.

“This made us open the door and look at what is happening to the working poor. They’re the ones in the Taco Bells, cleaning homes,� said Decaen of Catholic Charities. “They were there. We just chose to smoke screen them, to ignore them.�