Low-income Renters-Farmworkers Pitted Against Each Other

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Galina Leslie, a 64-year-old disabled Sonoma County resident, thought she had found the answer to her dreams when she landed an apartment in Sebastopol for a fraction of what she would have to pay elsewhere.

Her $608 monthly rent for a two-bedroom at the Woodmark Apartments still took up a third of her income.

Now Leslie and her neighbors — several who are ill and frail — have to leave because farm workers should be filling all 48 units of the Woodmark.

The $25 million property was built to house farmworkers and their families at below-market rent, according to reports.

When they stood empty for months, the management company opened the apartments up to renters like Leslie, who now face eviction.

Woodmark’s developers, The Pacific Companies and its nonprofit partner, the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing, received a $1 million loan from the USDA Farmworker Housing Program to kick off their $25 million development, according to the Sebastopol Times.

The loan required the 48 units to be rented exclusively to farm workers and their families.

Leslie and other residents were invited to apply when too few farmworkers filled the units.

"I was tenant number one," Leslie said.

Leslie and others knew the units had been built for farmworkers.

She said she was turned away the first time she tried to apply. She put her name on a waitlist for a second development that would be open to low-income residents.

Not long after, she said a manager invited her to apply, and before long, she was moving into a 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartment.

"I thought I was going to be here forever," she said.

Farmworker advocates told reporters that they were not aware that the Woodmark complex existed, despite a critical need in the community.

The Woodmark offered the renters $10,000 to move out by Oct. 31, or $5,000 by the end of November.

They also offered the renters an apartment in the company's Windsor or Santa Rosa properties.

Pat McDonell, a housing attorney with Legal Aid of Sonoma County, said the renters should have the right to stay through the end of their lease.