Oxnard staff seeks $800,000 city loan to help settle $2 million dispute tied to stalled Las Cortes housing project

Brenda Lopez, interim housing director for the City of Oxnard, told the City Council and the Oxnard Housing Authority board that staff recommends a loan of $800,000 from the city general fund to partially fund a $2,000,000 settlement between the Oxnard Housing Authority and UHC 00558 LP related to the stalled Las Cortes (Colonial Village) affordable housing project in the La Colonia neighborhood.

Lopez said the settlement would close a funding gap that remains after the housing authority spent $2,332,619 to demolish 260 aging public-housing units on the Colonial Village Public Housing Site and that the total amount due to the housing authority as of March 31, 2025, was $2,655,505. "The total amount due to the housing authority as of 03/31/2025 was $2,655,505," Lopez told the council. She added, "The loan will be automatically forgiven on the date of construction of affordable housing begins."

The recommendation follows a history of authorization, development and delay: HUD authorized demolition in February 2008; the Oxnard Housing Authority and UHC entered a development agreement dated Sept. 18, 2012 that was amended June 1, 2015; UHC completed a first phase, Las…