FAMILIES SOUGHT FOR THREE HOUSES RECIPIENTS PICKED MUST HELP BUILD.

Byline: ERIC LEACH

Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY -- After failed attempts last year, Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County is again holding meetings next month to find families to buy and help build three homes at Royal and Sequoia avenues.

This is the first project of its kind Habitat has undertaken in Simi Valley, and the second time Habitat officials have called for applicants qualified to buy houses for a fraction of their market value.

The three families selected will receive help in the form of no-interest loans from the city of Simi Valley and from Habitat so they can buy the homes, estimated to cost each family about $100,000 in an area where the median-priced home is some $600,000.

Habitat volunteers will help build the three homes on about 1 1/2 acres of what was once farmland along the Arroyo Simi.

"I think this opportunity is phenomenal. I very much support it," Simi Valley City Councilman Glen Becerra said. "I think the Habitat model is a great way to show a community cares about the less fortunate."

Habitat officials said more than 100 people attended meetings in June when Habitat first called for applicants, but fewer than 25 people applied.

This led to concerns there were many more people in the community who were eligible but unaware of the opportunity, so Habitat officials decided to look again for potential candidates this March.

"We want to really reach out to the community and make people aware this housing opportunity is there," said Karen Jensen, program manager for Habit for Humanity of Ventura County. "We want to make sure that everyone who is eligible has a chance to apply.

"These homes are going to be gorgeous, in some cases nicer than the homes in the area that have been there since the 1960s," Jensen said.

Becerra agreed. Improvements in building and design standards over the years will help ensure that the homes, located in an attractive neighborhood, are of high quality, he said.

"Today's standards far exceed the standards of the homes built in that area in the 1960s," he said. "There are a lot of good things going on in that area."

The site is along the Arroyo Simi across from Vista del Arroyo Park. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District won an award of excellence for outstanding park planning last year from the California Parks and Recreation Society for the park, which features playgrounds for small children, a gazebo, meandering walkways, wooden bridges and a streambed made out of river rock and granite boulders.

The city of Simi Valley purchased the land for the three Habitat houses last year for $120,000 from the park district.

Some of the main sponsors for the project are the Simi Valley-Moorpark Association of Realtors, Starbucks, Card Service International and the Conejo Valley Interfaith Group.

The Realtors have held a series of fundraisers to generate $100,000.

Construction was expected to begin last year on the project. Now, the work is set to proceed when the families are selected.

Applicants must live or work in the city of Simi Valley and must make within 30 percent to 50 percent of the median income of Ventura County, so a family of four cannot have an income of more than $40,300 or less than $24,200 to qualify, Habitat officials said.

Applicants also must be currently paying more than 50 percent of their monthly income for housing, or be living in substandard housing -- for example, with severe structural damage, bad plumbing or wiring and overcrowding.

The applicants must have the ability to make monthly mortgage payments, and they must be willing to partner with Habitat to help build their homes, along with volunteers from the organization.

They must attend one of the two orientation meetings in March, bringing the Social Security numbers for all family members, 2006 W-2 forms for all adults and other information on all sources of income.

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

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