$12M to House Ojai's Homeless — But Where?

Another housing site fight, the uncertain future of $12.7 million in grant funding, and the difference between transitional and permanent supportive housing.

Hello readers! The following is the third in an ongoing series of reports about homelessness in Ojai. I originally intended for this story to include updates about folks living at Kent Hall and the Supreme Court’s consideration of Grants Pass v. Johnson, but given breaking news, I decided to split my report in two. I’ll issue another story in the coming week and will surely include whatever chaos occurs in the interim.

Before we get into the story, I want to thank you for your continued support. Your willingness to spend time with my writing inspires me to not only keep going, but to expand, improve, and go deeper. Let’s get into it.

---

The $12M Project to House Ojai's Homeless — But Where?

Those who keep up with the day-to-day know there is much to say. Let’s begin on June 11th: that’s when the Ojai City Council voted unanimously to move Ojai’s state-funded $12 million dollar permanent supportive housing project from the City Hall campus to Ojai Ave. (Specifically, 601 E. Ojai Ave., the corner of Bald St. and Ojai Ave.) The public received notice of the proposed purchase the previous Friday, June 7th — that’s when the City Council meeting agenda was released.

Wait, what? Here’s a quick review of the facts:

• On January 23rd, the Ojai City Council voted 3-2¹ to submit an application to the state’s Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF), proposing to build 20 units of permanent supportive housing at Kent Hall — the site of a growing camp for folks who don’t have housing elsewhere. (Kent Hall is located on the Ojai City Hall campus). The $750 million ERF program aims to get Californians off the streets by funding supportive services, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing projects across the state. It also provides funds for cleaning up former encampment sites (like City Hall).

• Councilmembers and city staff acknowledged in January that Kent Hall was not an ideal project location.² But the grant application required a location (it’s a housing project — of course it requires a location). So Kent Hall it was, with a collective expectation that the location would change once a better site was identified. 

• Enter Ben Harvey. Harvey became Ojai’s City Manager on January 29th — the city’s fourth manager in the space of one year. 

• On April 18th, Mayor Betsy Stix participated in a Zoom press conference with California Governor Gavin Newsom and other local leaders, announcing that Ojai won a $12.7M ERF grant to develop Kent Hall and add 20 units of permanent supportive housing to the property. The funds also allow for supportive services, case workers, and private security. It was the highest amount awarded to any city during the funding cycle.

• The Council directed Harvey to find a new location for the project. “We have a deadline of June 30th if we are going to use a different location other than Kent Hall,” Harvey told me during a May interview.

We’ve now arrived at the June 11th Ojai City Council meeting, when Harvey publicly recounted his efforts to relocate the ERF housing project.

“We were in talks, primarily with [Ventura] County, for a number of months looking at a number of locations including a portion of Soule Park, including a parcel across from Camp Comfort, including the county maintenance yard just outside of city limits in Meiners Oaks, including the Honor Farm, all of these locations ended up not being possible,” he said.

Harvey continued, “Fortuitously the city was in negotiations for a different reason for a property on E. Ojai Ave. and Bald [St.]... That is where we are recommending that the ‘Tiny Homes Pathway to Permanent Housing Project’³ does move to.”

He’s talking about 601 E. Ojai Avenue — an undeveloped lot on Ojai’s main street that sits between two restaurants, Seafresh and the Ojai Beverage Company. The parcel is owned by Fred Plotke, a real estate developer based in Brentwood. 

Harvey then sought authorization from the City Council to purchase Plotke’s lot for $1.15 million using ERF funds. His revised plan included a few twists: Plotke’s lot could accommodate 30 units of permanent supportive housing (think of these units as private rooms) — a 50% increase in housing units from the original Kent Hall proposal. Harvey revealed one more critical detail: the state, he said, would only allow the project to shift locations if “it provides an increase in service.”⁴

Plotke did not attend the June 11th meeting, but his Ojai Ave. neighbors, Mayra Sutton of Seafresh to the west, and Linda Koire⁵, who owns 635, 655, and 701 Ojai Ave. to the east, were in the audience. Both women were incensed they hadn’t been notified of the city’s intent to purchase Plotke’s property, nor its recommended use. It was a scene much like City Council observers witnessed in January: when the City Hall neighbors caught wind of the proposed 20-unit ERF housing project in their neighborhood and formed a group that lobbied to relocate the development: Better Solutions for Ojai.

Sutton addressed the Council first, identifying Seafresh as “the oldest family-owned restaurant in the valley” (with Boccali’s as a close second). Sutton continued, “The project will absolutely have a negative impact, not only on [Seafresh] but on other businesses and residents that live nearby,” she said. “This is not the right location for this project, not on the main thoroughfare of Ojai. While I’m sympathetic to addressing social issues I’m troubled by the lack of transparency and the absence of notice for this hearing.”