Sebastopol moves to shield renters as low-income tenants face eviction from farmworker housing

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Dozens of Sebastopol residents who moved into a new apartment complex last winter are now facing eviction — and city leaders are rushing to give them relief.

On Tuesday, the Sebastopol City Council will consider an emergency measure aimed at protecting renters like those living at the Woodmark Apartments. The 48-unit complex was built with federal funding for farmworkers but has housed low-income residents for the past 11 months after the developer failed to find enough agricultural tenants.

The proposed “urgency ordinance” would immediately set new rules for how and when a property owner can evict a tenant. Known as a “just-cause eviction” rule, it would follow state law  that prohibits a property owner from removing tenants without a valid reason — such as failing to pay rent or violating a lease.

If a landlord wants to end a tenancy for reasons that aren’t the renter’s fault — such as moving into the unit themselves — they would have to pay relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent.

Sonoma County also has a just-cause eviction ordinance, approved by the Board of Supervisors in August 2024 after more than a year of heated debate. The rule, which applies only in unincorporated areas, restricts evictions during declared emergencies, increases relocation payments for displaced renters, and prevents landlords from evicting tenants over a single missed rent payment unless it happens more than twice in a year. It also requires that evictions be based on specific state-recognized reasons — such as nonpayment, lease violations or criminal activity — from the start of a tenancy.

Sebastopol’s plan builds on state and county versions of that law but adds stronger protections. Landlords could still carry out “no-fault” evictions, but they would have to pay more: three months of rent or the equivalent of three months of fair market rent, whichever is higher.

Because the measure is an urgency ordinance, it would need approval from four of the five council members to take effect immediately.

TThe city’s move follows months of uncertainty for Woodmark tenants. In September, they began receiving calls and letters warning they would soon have to leave to make room for farmworkers — the population the building was originally meant to serve.

But farmworkers never moved in. The Idaho-based developer, The Pacific Companies, completed the project in September 2024, then spent three months trying unsuccessfully to fill the units. In December 2024, the company opened them to residents earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income.

It is unclear what advertising or outreach efforts Woodmark’s developer and property management company underwent to find farm laborers. Calls and emails to Caleb Roope, CEO of The Pacific Companies, and Danyel Higgins, regional manager at Aperto Property Management, went unanswered.

The $25 million project was financed through a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan and $15 million in state tax credits. The USDA loan required that the units be rented exclusively to farmworkers or that the developer obtain a waiver to rent to others. Records show no such waiver was filed.

Now, nearly all the tenants — 42 of the 48 apartments — are being told to move out.

Patrick McDonell, a housing attorney with Legal Aid of Sonoma County, said it is unclear how much Sebastopol’s proposal could help. It does not block evictions outright, and relocation payments could even affect tenants’ eligibility for public benefits like CalFresh or CalWorks.

“Ultimately, though, these folks need funds if they should have to relocate and shouldn’t be forced to accept … less time than they are legally entitled to,” McDonell said. “The buy-out agreements from Woodmark are predicated on both of those conditions, which is fundamentally unfair to the residents who, through no fault of their own, are being further destabilized by Woodmark’s management failures.”

The Sebastopol City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center Youth Annex. The meeting can also be watched online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83305392061.