SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (KGO) — With just weeks before Christmas, families are facing the stress of eviction from a new affordable housing complex in Sebastopol.
Tenants were allowed to move into the units earlier this year, but were later told they had to go because the housing was built for farmworkers and their families.
More than a dozen families are fighting eviction. They rallied Saturday, demanding to be allowed to stay at the Woodmark affordable housing complex in Sebastopol.
“Those of us who moved here believed we had finally found stable housing after years of looking,” said tenant Beth Gallock.
Gallock is caring for her husband with dementia. The couple moved into Woodmark early this year. But in September, came notice: they had to go.
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“This devastating news was followed by offers of $10,000 if we could move out by Oct. 31,” Gallock said.
Some took the cash offer, but others are fighting back. It’s all because Woodmark was meant to house farmworkers and their families and was built using government funds from the USDA for that purpose. To stay in compliance, the developer and property management have said all non-farmworker low-income residents must leave.
“I’m a tenant at Woodmark and the mom of a nine-year-old son with autism and ADHD. He asked me to share the level of stress it’s cost for us and our neighbors,” said Melissa Page.
“The really frustrating thing is all of these tenants applied for the housing in good faith. They didn’t misrepresent themselves, saying, ‘Hey, I’m not a farmworker,'” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.
Hopkins is calling for the evictions to be paused and all parties to find a solution.
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“Today, I’m renewing my call for the Pacific Companies, Aperto Properties and the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing to come to the table and resolve the crisis they created,” Hopkins said.
CORNELL BARNARD: “Is it your hope tenants will be allowed to stay?”
“100%. Why shouldn’t they? This is not their problem. This is 110,000% not their problem,” said Sebastopol City Councilmember Stephen Zollman.
ABC7 News reached out to Woodmark’s developer and property management, but has not heard back.
In the meantime, defiant tenants are staying put for now, caught in Limbo.
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