Ventura, Calif. — The Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura (HACSB) has been awarded $18,983,730 from the California Strategic Growth Council for its Ventura Westside Housing and Active Transportation grant application. The award is granted through the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC), which funds projects that promote healthier communities and protect the environment by increasing the supply of affordable places to live near jobs, stores, transit and other daily needs. This is one of 25 awards across the state and is the first non-rural AHSC award in the Central Coast and the first for the City and County of Ventura.
The Ventura Westside AHSC award will fund the third phase of Westview Village, the transformation of an existing public housing site where 73 homes will be demolished, and 105 new affordable homes will be constructed. Additionally, the AHSC award will fund significant transit and neighborhood improvements that promote connectivity and enhance bicycling and pedestrian safety. With input from community stakeholders and City staff, the scope of improvements was defined for the grant application, and ultimately included 11,000 linear feet of new sidewalk and sidewalk repair, two miles of a new context-sensitive bikeway to close key east-west gaps in the local bike network, upgrades to Ventura Avenue bus shelters, and the purchase of 40 Calvans vans to expand vanpool service in Ventura County. Residents of Westview Village phase three will be encouraged to use public transportation, receiving bus passes subsidized by the AHSC project. Westview is a short walk from Ventura Avenue, which is bustling with pedestrian and bicycling activity and where Gold Coast Transit operates some of the highest use bus routes in Ventura County.
Projects that receive AHSC funds are committed to promoting alternative forms of transportation, sustainability, housing affordability and neighborhood connectivity. The Housing Project will incorporate a solar system that will produce at least 30 percent of its energy onsite as well as urban greening such as the expansion of the Westview Village community garden, private bike closets per unit, new trees planted at a rate of 3:1 and water conservation design elements throughout the site.
“The AHSC award is the result of a truly collaborative effort,” said HACSB Chief Executive Officer Denise M. Wise. “Knowing that AHSC funds are highly competitive, we engaged the city and the public for input to make the application as strong as possible. The community provided many great ideas which we took to the urban planners and traffic engineers at our consulting firm, Alta Planning + Design, who made additional recommendations.” Wise went on to explain that, since the improvements would be installed in the public realm, as a final step, HACSB brought the recommendations to City staff for review prior to submitting the application.
Residents recently began moving into the newly completed phase one of the Westview Village redevelopment effort which replaced 72 deteriorated public housing units with 131 modern affordable one- to four-bedroom apartments. When all four phases of development are complete, the community will provide 320 LEED‐certified new construction homes, including 50 homes for seniors and 34 for-sale homes. The HACSB anticipates that the redeveloped Westview Village community will be the first LEED‐Neighborhood Development certified community in Ventura County.
Westview Village is the city of Ventura’s oldest and largest public housing complex. The barracks-style, single-story buildings run between Olive and Riverside streets along Barnett, Warner, Flint and Vince streets. The first 100 units and Housing Authority administrative offices were constructed in 1952, with an additional 80 units completed in 1961.
ABOUT THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SAN BUENAVENTURA
The Housing Authority of the City Of San Buenaventura (HACSB) is the largest residential landlord in the City of Ventura, currently managing 295 public housing units, 705 nonprofit affordable rental units, and more than 1,500 Section 8 vouchers. The agency is actively working to increase the supply of affordable housing and to improve the quality of life for hundreds more of the low-income residents of the City of Ventura. http://www.hacityventura.org/.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA STRATEGIC GROWTH COUNCIL and its AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
The California Strategic Growth Council brings together state agencies and departments to coordinate and work collaboratively to achieve sustainability, equity, economic prosperity, and quality of life for all Californians. More information on the SGC can be found at www.sgc.ca.gov and on LinkedIn and Twitter at @CalSGC.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development is dedicated to the preservation and expansion of safe and affordable housing, so more Californians have a place to call home. Its programs aim to increase the supply of housing for Californians and promote the growth of strong communities through its leadership, policy, and program development. For more information, visit www.hcd.ca.gov
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