There are more than 1,000 homeless in the Conejo Valley

According to Lutheran Social Services, an individual earning minimum wage would need to work 125 hours each week to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the community and would need to make $22 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

The average apartment in the Conejo Valley rents for more than $1,000 per month and the income needed to afford a market-price home in the area is more than $120,000 per year.

The forum will feature Dr. Jamshid Damooei, co-director of the Center for Leadership and Values and professor of economics at California Lutheran University; Karol Schulkin, MSW, program administrator for the county’s Homeless Services Program; Deacon Jim Robinson from St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks; and Cari Stackowski, a formerly homeless Ventura County resident.

The forum is sponsored by Manna Food Pantry of the Conejo Valley, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition. For more information, call Poynter at (805) 497-6207.