Thousand Oaks approves affordable housing at former Hillcrest Christian School site
An affordable housing project with 78 townhomes proposed at the former Hillcrest Christian School won approval Tuesday night from the Thousand Oaks City Council.
Council members voted 4-0 in favory, with Kevin McNamee abstaining, of the project permit during their Tuesday meeting.
Three-story townhomes are slated for the 3.86-acre city-owned site at 384 Erbes Road. The project will include eight buildings with attached garages and 165 parking spots, Senior Planner Angela Georgeff told council members. Part of the project involves the demolition of the school building.
Speaking before the council, Douglas Baker of Newbury Park praised the project for being 100% affordable.
The city purchased the site for $10 million in 2021 for affordable housing. The next year, the council chose nonprofit People's Self-Help Housing to develop the project.
The townhomes will be built under an agreement with the city, People's Self-Help Housing and nonprofit Housing Land Trust Ventura County, Assistant City Attorney Noel Doran said Tuesday night. City staff will work with People's Self-Help Housing to secure funding, Finance Director Jaime Boscarino also said.
In many cases, homes will be sold for prices less than the cost of renting a house, Veronica Garcia, People’s Self-Help Housing chief real estate development officer, told the council. Sales prices would vary from $275,000 to $600,000, she said previously.
Of the 78 townhomes, 59 would be affordable for households earning less than 80% of the area median income, according to the Thousand Oaks Community Development Department. The rest would be affordable for households under 120% of the area median income.
According to community development, the Ventura County area media income is $123,500 for a family of four. The same family would have an income of $106,250 at 80% of that or at 120%, the income would be $148,200.
At Tuesday's council meeting, Garcia said the townhomes would vary from one to four bedrooms. She said that includes 17, three-bedroom townhomes for lower incomes.
Council member David Newman said he liked that there's a significant number of three- and four-bedroom townhomes.
"This is good for families," Newman said.
Georgeff said changes were made to address neighbors' concerns about views into their backyards from one building. Bedroom and dining room windows are being relocated to face another direction, and there will be additional screening around patios as well as evergreen trees along the building, she said.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Affordable housing plan at T.O. former school approved
