Oxnard committee refers decision on dissolving Homelessness Commission to full council

OXNARD, Calif. — The Oxnard Community Services, Public Safety, Housing and Economic Development Committee voted 3–0 on Feb. 24 to send staff’s recommendation on the future of the Commission on Homelessness to the full City Council for a decision.

Assistant City Manager Ashley Golden told the committee staff’s recommendation was based on limited internal capacity and the city’s required participation in the county Continuum of Care (CoC). "We’re seeking your direction on staff’s recommendation to dissolve the commission on homelessness," Golden said, noting the city already participates in the CoC and that staffing the commission has strained city resources.

The committee heard a range of perspectives. Samantha Shapiro, project manager in the city manager’s office, said the commission struggled in recent years with attendance and with producing substantive agenda items: "There was often a lack of a quorum due to low membership and then lack of agenda items that were meaningful," she said. Housing Director Brenda Lopez emphasized the trade-off between convening meetings and frontline work: staffing the commission would pull staff away from street outreach and other direct services.

Kimberly Albers, deputy executive officer and homelessness solutions director for Ventura County, described how the CoC and related county processes distribute funding and set policy priorities. "We were just granted HAP round 6 funding with $5,500,000 combined between the Continuum of Care and the CoC for this budget year," Albers said, adding that roughly $23 million has come to the county and CoC across six HHAP rounds and that annual federal CoC allocations are in the $3.7–$4.1 million range.

Front-line staff said outreach and services have continued in the field. Betty Garcia, the city’s homeless program administrator, said street outreach, "backpack medicine" and other day-to-day efforts have continued without the commission and that she spends most of her time in the field linking people to services.

The meeting included sharp disagreement over the commission’s value and structure. One council member argued the commission could be adversarial and duplicative; staff and other council members countered that the commission has produced meaningful results in the past, including the winter warming/foul-weather shelter adopted in 2023. An earlier motion to dissolve the commission was made but received no second and therefore failed.

Chair McArthur moved to refer the recommendation to the full City Council for final determination and proposed that, if the council desires, it consider alternatives such as restructuring the commission to quarterly meetings or forming an ad hoc committee. The motion to refer was seconded and carried 3–0 after a roll-call vote using the chamber’s new electronic voting devices.

The committee’s referral means the full City Council will decide whether to dissolve, restructure or retain the Commission on Homelessness. The committee requested that any report to council include options (for example, quarterly meetings or an ad hoc panel) and a description of the resources that would be required to staff and sustain the commission.