City housing official: HUD grant will fund 36‑month neighborhood transformation planning in five Oxnard neighborhoods

Drew Sarni, project manager in the City of Oxnard Housing Department, told INCO’s March 5 meeting that the city received a HUD Neighborhood Choice grant and will begin a 36‑month process to create a neighborhood transformational plan for five neighborhoods.

The most newsworthy point: The planning effort will target Colonia, Fremont South, 5 Points Northeast, Hobson Park East and Wilson. Sarni said the city’s consultant will visit on March 19 to interview neighborhood chairs and that the project will create an ambassador program to link each neighborhood to the Housing Department and the consultant.

Why it matters: Sarni said the transformational plan will be used to compete for future federal funding. He described a three‑year planning window and said the city intends to reapply to HUD with the plan to pursue a potential $50,000,000 award to implement neighborhood improvements.

Sarni asked neighborhood chairs to serve as conduits to residents and to participate in stakeholder interviews and ambassador activities. He said he has already begun outreach to some chairs and will follow up to set stakeholder interviews; he confirmed he had reached Kim Winch and would contact other chairs to schedule meetings.

What was not decided: Sarni’s remarks were informational; the INCO membership did not take formal action at the meeting. Details on the grant amount for planning, specific program budgets, or a final consultant scope were not provided during the public comment.

Ending: Sarni asked chairs to expect outreach from staff and the consultant and said the first stakeholder interviews would begin when the consultant arrives on March 19.