Ventura County Rescue Mission extends reach to aid homeless groups throughout county

The Ventura County Rescue Mission in Oxnard has begun reaching out to other homeless facilities in the county to build partnerships to better serve those living on the streets.

Mission Director Michael Darden said Wednesday the faith-based nonprofit is focusing its efforts on areas where it feels more homeless services are needed. They include Fillmore, Moorpark, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and unincorporated Oak View, he said.

"Those are the areas where we've been working to try to collaborate and build partnerships to see if we could help bring services to the homeless populations there," he said.

Darden said there has been a renewed effort to connect since the spring.

Partners could also include churches, individuals and local governments, he said.

Darden said he doesn't feel that other parts of the county need the mission's outreach as much. Ventura, for instance, has two shelters — Our Place Shelter and the ARCH by Mercy House. Camarillo, meanwhile, is close to the rescue mission in neighboring Oxnard, he said.

There are 2,238 homeless people in the county, a 25% increase during the pandemic, according to the county's annual point-in-time homeless count in February. The 2020 homeless count tallied 1,787 homeless people shortly before the pandemic arrived in the county. There was no homeless count in 2021 due to COVID-19.

Services offered

Darden said the rescue mission, which last month celebrated its 50th anniversary, can offer such services to other homeless facilities as case management and drug and alcohol treatment programs.

The mission also provides temporary emergency shelter for men, women and children, and meals. It assists with legal counsel, transitional living and job training.

Simi Valley's Samaritan Center is one of the facilities the mission has reached out to.

The center provides meals, showers, case management and other services. It runs an overnight bedding program in coordination with Simi Valley churches, but only in the winter.

Simi Valley's homeless population is 141 people, down from 162 in 2020, according to the 2022 homeless count.

The center's new executive director, Annika Sumby, said the center welcomes the offer of support. She recently met with Darden and other mission officials to have preliminary talks about each other's programs.

"The great thing is that there is a place for us to work together," she said.

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For instance, she said, some of Simi Valley's homeless could perhaps stay at the mission's shelter or enroll in its recovery programs, which the center doesn't provide.

Darden said the mission's facility in nearby Northridge in the San Fernando Valley could also be of assistance to the center's clients.

"Because as I understand it, homeless people in Simi identify more with the valley than they sometimes do with Oxnard of Ventura," he said.

Sumby, who has only been on the job for a few months, had planned to reach out to the mission anyway, as well as other homeless facilities, to see if they could collaborate.

"I'm new and I want to learn what's out there, she said. "We all have the same goal," which is to reduce homelessness.

Spirit of Santa Paula

The mission has been working for the last several months with the Spirit of Santa Paula homeless facility, which also appreciates the support, said director Kay Wilson-Bolton.

"This is the type of work where you can't ever have too many partners," she said.

The Santa Paula center offers shelter, food, case management, laundry service and more for the homeless population throughout the Santa Clara Valley, which includes neighboring Fillmore and unincorporated Piru.

Mission personnel have accompanied Lupe Andres, a former homeless addict who does outreach for Spirit of Santa Paula, to talk to the approximately 100 homeless people living in the area's Santa Clara River bed to see if they're interested in the mission's drug and alcohol treatment programs.

She said the mission's help in that endeavor is especially welcomed.

"One hundred people living in the river bed is something we never thought we'd have to deal with," Wilson-Bolton said. "The camps are getting bigger. And they're getting messier."

Santa Paula's homeless population is 115 people, up from 95 in 2020, according to the 2022 homeless count.

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Wilson-Bolton said there has been some success in interesting a couple of the riverbed homeless population in the mission's addiction recovery programs, which the Spirit of Santa Paula doesn't offer.

She said mission personnel have also helped her facility distribute fire extinguishers – bought with the help of a benefactor – to the riverbed homeless to help put out fires largely set inadvertently by campfires.

"So, the mission has been a great partner," she said. "It's like having an extra support system."

Thousand Oaks, Oxnard plans

Darden noted that while Thousand Oaks currently has no shelter, it has plans to build the city's first homeless housing facility, converting a Quality Inn and Suites at 12 Conejo Blvd. into permanent housing for about 77 homeless people.

But the city is still waiting to hear from the state whether its request for up to $28 million in Project Homekey funding will be granted. Without the funding, the project can't go forward.

Authorities there last month tore down a string of long-standing homeless encampments in wooded areas next to Highway 23.

The Oxnard City Council, meanwhile, in May approved an agreement with the county to fund a portion of a planned 110-bed shelter with 56 permanent supportive housing units downtown.

Darden said the mission isn't trying to step on the toes of any other homeless facilities.

"We're not there to compete with them," he said. "We just want to partner together where there is a need and be good neighbors."

Mike Harris covers the East County cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, as well as transportation countywide. You can contact him at mike.harris@vcstar.com or 805-437-0323.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Oxnard homeless mission offers help to Ventura County shelters