Thousand Oaks to break ground on homeless shelter Thursday
The city of Thousand Oaks will break ground Thursday on its first emergency homeless shelter.
The 10 a.m. ceremony will be at the site of the new Thousand Oaks Navigation Center, 1205 Lawrence Ave. The event will involve representatives of the city and its partners for the shelter – Ventura County and the nonprofits Hope the Mission, Many Mansions and Dignity Moves. The city owns the vacant, 6.5-acre site.
The city expects construction to finish in November, followed by occupancy, Assistant City Manager Ingrid Hardy said by email.
The schedule depends on approvals for permits, Hardy said. She added the developer, Dignity Moves, is working through the permitting process and hopes to start construction as soon as possible.
Ventura County's annual point-in-time count in 2023, the most recent year figures are available, found 2,441 people without homes – more than double from 2017. The 2023 figure includes 128 people in Thousand Oaks.
The navigation center will consist of small, one-room homes for up to 30 homeless people during its first phase, according to the city. Twenty units will be added during the second phase to bring the total to 50.
In addition to housing, the center will provide meals, workforce training, case managers and connections with health, drug and alcohol treatment programs, the city said in a news release.
Plans also call for the center to include laundry facilities, showers, restrooms and computer stations.
Under state law and city of Thousand Oaks regulations, people can live at an emergency shelter for up to six months.
But the Thousand Oaks City Council on Tuesday voted 5-0 in favor of an exception for the navigation center, allowing people to stay there longer than six months. The vote took place after a brief discussion with no public comments.
The additional time is meant to help efforts to move residents into permanent housing, Senior Planner Nizar Slim told the council.
"Caseworkers may be doing more work with some individuals than others," Slim said. "That work may exceed what you can do in a six-month period."
But there's no risk of the Navigation Center becoming permanent housing for some people, Hardy said Tuesday before the council meeting.
The homeless individuals will sign contracts with expiration dates although it was not immediately known how many days were in the contract, Hardy said. She added those wanting to renew their contracts will be required to show their case manager they're taking the steps to get into permanent housing.
The council in January approved agreements with the nonprofits and a payment of $1.82 million toward the $7.75 million cost for construction of the shelter and installation of utilities. The City Council chose the site in September 2022, and the city received a $5.8 million state grant in August 2023 to help develop the property into homeless housing.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks to break ground on homeless shelter Thursday
