An army of 500 freshmen from California Lutheran University will descend Tuesday onto the Ventura River bottom to remove trash and years of abandoned belongings.

Working alongside city officials and police, the students will navigate meandering dirt trails near the edge of the river, collecting tattered blankets, grimy food wrappers and rusted bike parts discarded by people who sleep illegally among the head-high bushes.

The student cleanup is part of the private Thousand Oaks university's You Got Served program, a service project for incoming freshmen now in its fourth year. This is the first time, however, that the entire freshman class will tackle the same project, and university organizers expect it to be an eye-opening experience.

Ventura is under increasing pressure to remove the trash. Environmental regulations cover the sensitive estuary, and high pollution levels could lead to fines of up to $25,000 a day.

But while city officials are ecstatic to have such a large, gloved work force to assist with the trash problem, they say the underlying challenge — relocating the homeless sleeping on the riverbed — is likely to persist until greater housing options are available across the county.

"Part of CLU's mission is a commitment to service and justice, and we feel this is a great way to introduce these incoming students to that core mission and connect them to the local community in a meaningful and helpful way," said Stine Odegard, university coordinator of community service.

The students will have their work cut out for them, said Odegard, surprised on a recent riverbed tour by the volume of refuse: soiled clothes, beer bottles, magazines and bigger items such as furniture.

Local garbage hauler E.J. Harrison & Sons has agreed to donate large metal containers for the cleanup, which will run from the river's opening at the ocean to as far upstream as Sheridan Way School, organizers said. Aera Energy, which owns land in the area, and the Woods-Claeyssens Foundation contributed a combined $5,000 to help purchase shovels, rakes, gloves and other supplies.

People have relied on the river bottom for shelter since World War II. Some choose to be there, but most have nowhere else to go and are penniless, drug addicted or suffering from mental illness, homeless experts say.

The riverbed population has fluctuated over the years and remains difficult to estimate. The use varies from overnight stays in sleeping bags to elaborate encampments with walled rooms and gas generators.

Frequent sweeps by police have eliminated most of the more elaborate setups, and the student volunteers will only clear abandoned camps and discarded materials, said Peter Brown, Ventura's social services manager.

Brown doesn't anticipate much interaction between students and campers because most of the homeless leave during the day.

Possible flooding

City officials have gone into the riverbed half a dozen times in recent weeks to mark cleanup locations and notify homeless campers of the effort. He stressed that the cleanup is not aimed at displacing them, partially because officials have nowhere to direct them.

Nonetheless, officials increasingly are concerned about dangers posed by upcoming winter rains and possible flooding, and about environmental damage that the illegal encampments are causing in the winding estuary. In winter, campers are urged to relocate to a temporary warming shelter that rotates between National Guard armories in Ventura and Oxnard.

"This cleanup is not about criminalizing anyone," Brown said, noting that no one has been cited or removed during recent sweeps. "This community has taken major strides to assist those individuals who are prepared to make a change in their life, but the reality is we have a major trash problem down there."

Those committed to ending homelessness in Ventura County say communities must create additional housing options and focus more on homeless prevention to reduce a homeless population estimated at 6,000. The rise in foreclosures, putting some renters out of their rooms and onto the streets, has added to the challenge.

Cities across the county have adopted a 10-year strategy to end homelessness, and there is growing support for the argument that social services such as soup kitchens and temporary shelters only "manage" the symptoms of homelessness.

A more efficient strategy would be using some of the funding for these social services to place chronically homeless individuals into supportive housing, said Karl Keller, chairman of the Ventura Social Service Task Force, a coalition of service providers, citizens, government and faith organizations.

The challenge, he said, is convincing people that spending a little money to provide housing is cheaper than paying for the repeated emergency room stays, responses by police and firefighters, and other costs associated with living on the streets.

"There has been a shift in philosophy" at the federal level, said Deborah Weinstein, director of the Coalition on Human Needs, a Washington, D.C., policy advocacy group.

"One of the critical first steps to help those who are homeless and often suffer from addiction or varying mental illness is to get them in some form of housing and connect them to services while they are there."

The federal government is pumping more money into building permanent housing, she said.

'Eager to participate'

Community leaders in Ventura County are studying the feasibility of converting 100 foreclosed homes into emergency shelters, transitional programs and long-term leases for impoverished families.

For CLU's Odegard, it's a chance for students to get a sidewalk-level introduction to some of the community's most pressing issues.

"That exposure is priceless," she said. "I think this is an important partnership, one that we are eager to participate in."