VENTURA COUNTY — Housing Land Trust Ventura County has been awarded $75,000 in funding support from Weingart Foundation through their Unrestricted Operating Support (U.O.S.) program. The nonprofit will receive $75,000 over two years in support of Housing Land Trust VC’s mission to provide permanently affordable housing opportunities on donated land for those who contribute to the fabric of Ventura County’s economy and community. The Weingart Foundation partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial, social, and economic justice for all.
“This grant is a vote of confidence from Weingart Foundation, who has also granted funds to Housing Trust Fund VC over the years,” said Linda Braunschweiger, CEO of Housing Land Trust Ventura County. Linda also serves as CEO for Housing Trust Fund Ventura County, her guidance of which has helped to fund and commit to loans totaling $28 million since 2013, paving the way for 1,177 affordable units in Ventura County. “These funds will help support Housing Land Trust VC’s mission, which has already begun with the receipt of two pieces of land in the last two years.”
In April 2021, the City of Oxnard donated a 22,000-sf parcel located at 241 W. 2nd Street to Housing Land Trust VC for the development of Casa de Carmen and the Oxnard Navigation Center, which is being developed by Community Development Partners and Mercy House, and will provide 55 permanent housing units, 110 shelter beds and 24-hour supportive services for our community’s homeless population. The following year, the organization acquired a 3.87-acre land donation from the City of Thousand Oaks. The donated land located at 384 N. Erbes Road will be developed by People’s Self-Help Housing into nearly 80 affordable for-sale townhomes, creating an opportunity for home ownership for our community’s low-income to moderate-income individuals and families. The Oxnard development is under construction with planned move-in dates beginning in Spring 2024.
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Housing Land Trust Ventura County is a Community Land Trust that seeks to identify and secure, through donation, undeveloped and surplus land for the purpose of bringing down the costs to develop affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents in Ventura County. The organization is governed by an 11-member all-volunteer Board of Directors led by Chair Alex Russell formerly of Many Mansions and now CEO of Homes and Hope; Vice Chair Peter Lyons, Community Development Consultant; Treasurer Marni Brook with WEV; and Secretary Tracy McAulay with the County of Ventura. The Board also includes Stephen Boggs of The Boggs Group; Bertha Garcia with VC Community Development Corporation; Retired City Planner MaryAnn Krause, AICP; Anthony Mireles with Laborer’s International Union Local 585; Maria Navarro with CAUSE; Stratis Perros, City of Simi Valley Environmental Services Department; and Architect Mark Petit with Lauterbach & Associates, Architects. Visit www.housinglandtrustvc.org to learn more about Housing Land Trust Ventura County and how donated land can help to bring more affordable housing to Ventura County.