United Way of Ventura County — United to End Homelessness

Dear Friends,

Everyone needs a safe place to call home, yet that basic need is increasingly out of reach for many people in Ventura County. Limited affordable housing supply, extremely low vacancy rates, and rising rents, make finding an affordable and secure place to live  exceedingly challenging for many in our county.

In June of 2018, the United Way of Ventura County completed a Strategy Roadmap to prepare for its 75th Diamond Anniversary in 2020. Through that experience, the Board of Directors and staff determined that we could make a meaningful impact by focusing on the housing and homeless issue facing our community, especially when it came to rental assistance, which was the #1 area of hardship assistance needed by disaster victims.

Today, we have some very exciting news to share. The Amgen Foundation has awarded United Way of Ventura County a $100,000 challenge grant. The funds will be used to launch a landlord engagement pilot program as part of our United to End Homelessness in Ventura County initiative.

The program’s goal is to prevent, and ultimately end, homelessness. We plan to do this by increasing housing stock and by utilizing existing housing vouchers and subsidies provided by local jurisdictions and community partners. We are grateful to Amgen for leading the way with this generous challenge grant and we look forward to working with additional funders to help bring an end to homelessness in Ventura County.

Additional private funds will further leverage public support provided through a Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) grant recently awarded by the Ventura County Continuum of Care for United Way’s Landlord Engagement Pilot program.  As a result of that funding, on November 1, our new Program Manager, Amy Duganne, joined  our team (see announcement below).

To accept the Amgen Foundation challenge and become a member of the funding collaborative, please email me at Eric.Harrison@vcunitedway.org.

If you are a landlord interested in becoming a member of the program, please email Amy Duganne at Amy.Duganne@vcunitedway.org.

We have a lot to celebrate and it’s our hope that you are inspired to further support our community through United Way. Your involvement today shapes the impact of our work tomorrow.