Tenants in North Bay are fighting eviction from an affordable housing complex originally built for farm workers

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (KGO) — With Christmas just weeks away, families are facing the stress of eviction from a new affordable housing complex in Sevastopol.

Tenants were allowed to move into the units earlier this year, but were later told they had to go because the homes were built for farm workers and their families.

More than a dozen families are fighting eviction. They took action on Saturday, demanding to be allowed to stay at the Woodmark affordable housing complex in Sebastopol.

“Those of us who moved here thought we had finally found stable housing after years of searching,” said tenant Beth Gallock.

Gallock cares for her husband with dementia. The couple moved to Woodmark earlier this year. But in September the message came: they had to go.

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“This devastating news was followed by offers of $10,000 if we could move by October 31,” Gallock said.

Some took the cash offer, but others are fighting back. That’s all because Woodmark was intended to house farm workers and their families and was built for that purpose with federal money from the USDA. To stay in compliance, the developer and property management have said all low-income non-farm workers must leave.

“I am a tenant at Woodmark and the mother of a nine-year-old son with autism and ADHD. He asked me to share how much stress it is causing us and our neighbors,” says Melissa Page.

“The really frustrating thing is that all of these tenants applied for the housing in good faith. They didn’t misrepresent themselves by saying, ‘Hey, I’m not a farm worker,'” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.

Hopkins calls for a stop to the evictions and for a solution to be found for all parties.

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“Today I renew my call for the Pacific Companies, Aperto Properties and the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing to come to the table and solve the crisis they have created,” Hopkins said.

CORNELL BARNARD: “Is it your hope that tenants will be allowed to stay?”

“100%. Why not? This is not their problem. This is 110,000% not their problem,” said Sebastopol City Councilman Stephen Zollman.

ABC7 News reached out to Woodmark’s developer and property management but has not heard back.

In the meantime, rebellious tenants remain in place for the time being, trapped in limbo.