More than 60 homeless individuals in Simi Valley have been successfully housed in the last five months, according to a recent report from the Simi Valley Alliance to House the Homeless.

During a Wednesday meeting of the local Task Force on Homelessness, committee coordinator Sandra Thompson said the alliance- a partnership of city, county, nonprofit and faith-based organizations- helped a total of 138 people in Simi Valley maintain housing since December 2007.

Of this number, 74 individuals were assisted in preventing homelessness, while 64 were able to secure new housing.

"There's always more that can be done, but this city is above the curve in doing things to help the homeless," said Councilmember Barbra Williamson, co-chair of the task force. "We're here, and we're working as hard and as fast as we can.

"I feel good with what we're doing. We are making very big strides to help this community," she said.

Last year, Ventura County proposed a "10-year Strategy to End Homelessness" in its 10 cities. Simi Valley, with 163 homeless individuals, had a goal of decreasing the number by 10 percent- or 16 people- annually.

The alliance exceeded its goal for 2007-08 by helping 39 percent of the individuals find housing.

But the alliance was unable to determine how many people were chronically homeless or just temporarily homeless, Thompson said.

In another report, Betty Eskey, executive director of the Samaritan Center, updated the committee on the progress of the Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) winter program.

The PADS program, which offers overnight shelter to the homeless at seven different sites during the coldest months of the year- November through March- had more than 4,000 overnight stays during that period.

"The most people we had was 58 in one night, with about 13 or 15 at the least," Eskey said. "We had a lot more families this year, even though some were really short stays. But overall, we had double what we had last year."

New business

Dr. Joe Colletti of the Institute for Urban Initiatives will be conducting focus groups for the homeless and those at risk for homelessness next month.

Debbie Solomon, director of community services, said Colletti will perform an "Inventory and Gaps Analysis of Services and Programs" based on information gathered from the homeless community.

"All of the homeless are encouraged to sign up," Solomon said. "We will be collecting information, ideas and suggestions of what we need more of."

Those interested in participating can sign up at the Samaritan Center. The focus groups will take place at the center on Wednesday, June 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The next meeting of the Simi Valley Task Force on Homelessness will be on Sept. 18, 2008.

For more information, call Sandra Thompson at (805) 5836759.