COUNTYWIDE : 3 Charities Receive Funds for Homeless

Catholic Charities, Project Understanding and the Ventura County Public Social Services Agency received $49,000 in federal funds Tuesday for their programs that aid the homeless.

The County Board of Supervisors approved the money from the Emergency Shelter Grant Program run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Catholic Charities will receive $24,000 to provide money for motels for homeless people who are mentally ill. Project Understanding will use $21,400 for its food bank and other forms of assistance. The remainder, $3,600, will help finance a new caseworker position for the social services program.

Officials at Zoe Christian Center in Oxnard were upset that the homeless shelter received none of the money. Fred Judy, chairman of the shelter’s board, complained that the money will be funneled primarily to Ventura and not to Oxnard, where the bulk of the homeless population exists.

“It makes no sense to shut us out,” said Judy, who alleged that the center received no money because of past problems there. Marty Shaw-Halloway, manager of the county’s special projects unit, said that wasn’t the case. She said she processed $120,00 worth of requests from five organizations that applied for the federal funding.

“You can’t do it all,” she said. The criteria for deciding who would get the funding was based on HUD regulations and how the applicants complemented other county programs, she said.