Public service agencies struggle to help those in need during holidays
Part II of four parts
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Being homeless may be only a paycheck away for Conejo Valley residents struggling with the area's high cost of living.

Thousand Oaks resident Kim Rodriguez knows firsthand what a battle it is to keep a roof over her family's head.

Life got a lot harder after her husband, Matt, fell off a ladder, hurt his back and lost his job, she said.

"A year ago we thought he might be paralyzed. He's getting better, and we're hoping someday he has a full recovery," she said.

After the accident, money stopped coming in but the bills did not. They didn't have any family that could help them and had no idea what to do, she said.

"If Lutheran Social Services hadn't helped us, I don't know what would've happened to us. Landlords want to be paid no matter what," Rodriguez said.

Their future looked bleak. She never imagined her family, with children ages 14, 12 and 5, would face what they did after her husband's accident.

"I don't want to say we would've been put out on the streets, but that was a possibility," she said.

Now Rodriguez is working full-time at Office Depot, and her family is living in subsidized housing with adjusted rent, she said.

But it took time after the accident for the family to go from the income her husband was earning working construction to what she is able to do, she said.

"Lutheran Social Services was a tremendous help. They're good people," she said.

The nonprofit charity helped the family with utility bills, rent, food, school clothes and even Christmas gifts last year, Rodriguez said.

The group doesn't always have funding, said Chris Poynter, Lutheran Social Services program director.

This month, the group only had $1,500 to help people in need, she said.

"The fires in Southern California got a lot of donations and so our donations went down," Poynter said.

Rodriguez said she doesn't ask for help every time she is struggling because she knows when she gets help someone else will have to go without.

Poynter personally understands what it's like to live where it's hard to make ends meet, she said.

"I only make $35,000 a year, which is more than some of my clients but not enough to (afford a) one-bedroom," she said. A single mom, Poynter works helping those in Thousand Oaks but lives in Camarillo. She said if she qualified, she would accept rental and food assistance herself.

Median income in Ventura County, according to county statistics is $79,500. Upper is more than $95,400, moderate is from $63,600 to $95,400, low is $39,750 to $63,600, very low is $23,850 to $39,750 and extremely low is under $23,850.

The annual income needed in Ventura County to afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment is $46,240, a two-bedroom is $58,840.

That means a person needs to earn $22.23 an hour afford to rent a one-bedroom, $28.29 to afford a two-bedroom.

It's not easy to live in Thousand Oaks, the community Rodriguez's husband grew up in, without money, she said.

But her children are healthy and happy, and her son was just named "student of the month" in his kindergarten class, she said.

Ways that the community can help those in need were to be discussed last week at the third annual National Homeless and Hunger Awareness Forum at California Lutheran University.

The winter shelter season that provides a place for homeless people to sleep at night begins on Dec. 1.

For more information, call Poynter at (805) 4976207 or email her at cpoynter@lsssc.org.

For a list of agencies that need help, please see "Charities need your help" on page 9.