Oxnard—Housing Director Emilio Ramirez has left his position to serve as Chief of Staff to Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina. City Manager Alexander Nguyen has appointed Assistant Housing Director Brenda Lopez as Oxnard’s Interim Housing Director while the City begins a formal recruitment process for the position.
"EMILIO gave Oxnard nearly six great years of service, “City Manager Alex Nguyen said. His intellect and creativity were outsized only by his heart. He left the Housing Department in a much better position looking towards the future.”
Since joining the City in April 2019, Ramirez has led the Housing Department’s transformation, improving the Housing Authority’s operations and beginning an Asset Repositioning Implementation Plan, which allows the City to preserve and improve its affordable housing stock by moving away from the traditional public housing model.
Ramirez was instrumental in aligning the Housing Department’s efforts with the City Council’s priority of addressing homelessness by establishing a year-round homeless shelter. He also led a two-year effort to secure a permanent site for the City’s “shelter with housing” project, which resulted in the creation of Casa de Carmen and the Oxnard Navigation Center. Scheduled to open in summer 2025, the downtown facility will provide 56…
