Plan Providing Low-Cost Car Loans for Needy Gets Green Light

County officials welcomed Supervisor Frank Schillo’s proposal to give low-cost car loans to welfare recipients who need a ride to work, saying such a move is critical in a sprawling suburban county such as Ventura.

“From what I hear this is absolutely necessary,” said Randy Feltman, who is coordinating the county’s welfare reform programs. “In a suburban to rural county like Ventura, people will absolutely need cars, as opposed to public transportation.”

According to county records, Feltman said, about half of the 8,600 families on welfare do not own cars.

Those that do generally own cars that cost less than $1,500 and are often unreliable or out of commission, Feltman said. Most of the county’s welfare recipients are single mothers with one or two children.

Working mothers need reliable transportation to get their children to child care and themselves to work, Feltman said. The county’s public transportation system makes it almost impossible for them to do it all in the timely manner necessary to hold down a job.

“At the lower wage scale, where a lot of these women find jobs, the tolerance for missing work is much less than for missing it at a professional job,” Feltman said. “They could lose their jobs for being late one day a week.”

Schillo said he expects the county to buy a car at the end of this month and begin a test run of the program.

County officials said they do not believe Schillo’s plan clashes with an earlier proposal that called on volunteers to provide rides to welfare recipients to help them get to work.

At the urging of Supervisors John Flynn and Kathy Long, the county recently mailed letters to community organizations and businesses soliciting their help with the volunteer program.

Officials stressed, however, that no one approach is meant to overshadow or detract from another. Volunteers, an improved public transportation system and Schillo’s proposal could all play a role in getting people back to work.

“It is absolutely critical that we develop all these initiatives,” said Helen Reburn, deputy director of the county’s Public Social Services Agency. “I don’t see them competing. I see them complementing each other. I believe that both are going to be critically needed.

“For many of our clients a car will be the best solution,” Reburn added. “To the extent that we are not giving away cars, but making the purchase of cars more feasible, we’re hoping that this is one--an important one--of several strategies to address the transportation barriers.”

Still, Schillo agreed more than one approach may be necessary.

“If their program can [recruit] enough volunteers, that would be great, then we wouldn’t need the cars,” Schillo said. “But I think we can work together.”

Under Schillo’s proposal, the county would buy used public and private vehicle fleets, then sell them for below-market price to welfare recipients.

If the details can be worked out, the Ventura County Federal Credit Union would provide an affordable interest rate, and reduced loan payments to welfare recipients.

The recipients would pay for the cars themselves, so the program would not cost taxpayers any money, Schillo said.