HUD AWARDS GRANTS TO ASSIST REGION'S POOR : VENTURA COUNTY PROGRAMS TO SHARE $2 MILLION.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

Federal housing officials have awarded $2 million in grants to programs that assist poor people in Ventura County, softening the blow predicted from imminent cuts in welfare programs.

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that six county programs will receive federal grants, including a Thousand Oaks project that will provide shelter, child care and job training to homeless families.

Grants also were awarded to a campaign aimed at helping homeless veterans and an Oxnard armory that shelters the homeless in winter.

The help could not arrive at a better time, said Cathy Brudnicki, president of the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition. Social workers estimate that as many as 4,000 people on welfare in Ventura County will lose their benefits by the end of the year, she said.

``We are terrified about the reductions coming in the welfare program,'' said Brudnicki. ``If those people stop getting money, it means they are much more likely to become homeless.''

The grant that federal officials said would address the greatest need went to Many Mansions of Thousand Oaks for the construction of the Community House Apartments. The 11-unit building on Hampshire Road will include a child care facility and on-site job training and case management.

The project was designed to help families dealing with such problems as spousal abuse and absent providers return to self-sufficiency within a year, said executive director Dan Hardy.

``The goal of the program is to get people up and out,'' he said. ``We're getting them ready to re-enter the mainstream.''

In the kind of partnerships that federal officials have encouraged, Lutheran Social Services was enlisted to train participants in job skills and Catholic Charities will perform case management. A child care facility called Roots and Wings not only will look after children but also train interested parents how to operate home child care centers, filling what Hardy says is a ``desperate need in the community for child care.''

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.7 million and will break ground in November.

The award should help correct a common misperception that homelessness is limited to the western part of the county, Brudnicki said. ``A lot of people think there are no homeless people in Thousand Oaks, but that's just not true,'' she said. ``I was thrilled we got money into the east end of the county. There are an awful lot of people living on the edge.''

While the grant recipients will help some of those in crisis, Brudnicki says the larger picture looks grim.

``Most of the money we received is aimed at providing resources to people who are ready to move off the streets,'' Brudnicki said. ``But the reality is we will probably have hundreds of more homeless people on the streets in January.''