Mark Stiver. Courtesy photo.
VENTURA COUNTY — Housing Trust Fund Ventura County announced on April 9 that its 5th Annual Compassion Campaign will feature Mark Stivers, Director of Advocacy for the California Housing Partnership, a private nonprofit organization created by the State Legislature in 1988 to help provide housing that is sustainable and affordable for working families, homeless, veterans, seniors and disabled individuals. The event will be held at Walnut Grove at Tierra Rejada Farms in Moorpark on Thursday, May 9th, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For tickets and sponsorship opportunities please visit, www.housingtrustfundvc.org
This year’s Compassion Campaign theme, “Unlocking Affordable Living – Reshaping Housing Solutions” invites guests to reimagine what the future of affordable housing can be through immersive experiences, including engaging with an oversize map that showcases developments funded in part by Housing Trust Fund VC. Other audience-engaging immersions will be announced soon.
This event will also include case studies from the developers at Mesa in Ojai who are focused on supporting transitional age young adults at risk of homelessness. Another case study will feature The Villages at Westview developed by the Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura. Westview replaces the city’s oldest and largest public housing complex. Alex Russell, CEO of Homes & Hope and Chair of the Housing Land Trust, will speak on leveraging public land for housing affordability.
“It’s hard to believe we are in our fifth year of hosting our signature Compassion Campaign event,” said Housing Trust Fund Ventura County CEO, Linda Braunschweiger, who is also CEO of Housing Land Trust Ventura County. “Housing unaffordability has become a growing problem in our community, as Ventura County is now the least affordable housing market in the United States. We need to get innovative if we’re going to solve the affordability problem and that’s what this event seeks to address – innovation in funding, development, and land use.” Braunschweiger refers to the recent Center for Economic Research and Forecasting’s 2024 Ventura County economic forecast released in
February where Ventura County is #1 in the nation for being the least affordable place to live.
Compassion Campaign 2024 is made possible in part by the generous support of Bank of the Sierra, City National Bank, City of Ventura, USA/HOPE, CBC Federal Credit Union, Mechanics Bank, Plaza Development Partners, and the Port of Hueneme.
Housing Trust Fund Ventura County – Launched as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation in 2011, Housing Trust Fund VC is the local trusted leader in helping to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle. As of December 2023, Housing Trust Fund VC has committed to investing $28 million through its Revolving Loan Fund, creating 1,177 affordable apartments and homes for very-low, low- and middle-income employees, transitional age foster youth, veterans, farm workers, and the homeless.