Families, workers in Sonoma County on edge as rental market tightens after fires
"It's looking more and more like we might have to stay with relatives," said Hernandez, who works in maintenance and construction. His homeowners insurance is paying for the hotels, he said, but the company "is only going to give you so much housing money" toward a future when the family can rebuild in
County renters, property managers and housing advocates say the October wildfires grabbed hold of a constrained rental market and squeezed it by the throat.
"It was bad before the fire," said
Some who lost rental homes to fire said they are now paying substantially more for new places. Housing advocates said tenants in existing rentals also are reporting rent increases. Other renters told advocates they have received notices to vacate their current units, perhaps to make room for those able to pay more money.
Many fear the destruction of so much housing in affluent and middle-class neighborhoods could cause a chain reaction that eventually forces significant numbers of workers and their families from the county. Housing advocates maintain those with little means will be the most vulnerable.
"We're extremely worried that we're going to have a second wave of displacement," said
Local and federal officials have yet to report what portion of the burned-out families were renters. What is known is that 4 in 10 county households overall were renting in 2015, according to
County Supervisor
The city's vacancy rate for 2016, the most recent available, was 2.3 percent, "which is basically zero," said senior research associate
Bennet said it likely will take another month for the company's estimates to show the fire's effects on rents. She predicted rents will continue to rise, partly because the fire resulted in more high-income renters entering the market with the ability to pay more to find temporary housing.
Real estate website
However, it seems likely that jump in the county median rent was related at least partly to a shift in the market, namely an increase in higher-priced vacation rental houses that insurance companies have been procuring for more affluent clients to move into.
There was a similar but opposite effect in prices during the home foreclosure crisis that began a decade ago. Then, the dramatic plunge in median prices for resale homes was soon exacerbated when the mix of available properties shifted dramatically toward the lower end of the market.
Those who found new rentals after the fires said their searches required perseverance.
"My wife was at it daily" reviewing
Arriaga and his wife, Hilary, applied for four or five rentals before being offered a triplex unit in
"We jumped on it," he said of their acceptance. "We didn't want to wait."
The Arriagas now are paying roughly
Even so, Lopez said, he has a home now because his former property manager helped him find the new unit and his renter's insurance company advanced funds to cover the initial costs.
"If not," he said, "I'm not sure where we would be at the moment."
In the meantime, the days in hotels in
Property managers said the rush for rentals started right after the fires.
"We had a couple of dozen vacancies on
Alliance suffered 27 destroyed homes out of roughly 1,000 rentals.
McNeil said frustrations over the housing market could cause such workers as police officers, teachers, doctors and others to move away.
"Not only is the cost of living prohibitive," he said. "Now, there's nothing to choose from."
Becker of DeDe's Rentals said he still has some two-bedroom and smaller units available for rent, though rarely larger places.
He was able to find rentals for four fire-displaced tenants and three of his owner clients who lost homes in the fires. But he said he received many calls from people he has known for years "saying, 'Please, Keith, I hope you can help.' And the simple answer was, no, I couldn't."
Property managers suggest that since the fires, renters are increasingly acting the way homeowners have for the past few years. For both now, the lack of housing choices is pushing families to simply stick with what they have rather than seek a new home that may better meet their needs.
"We are definitely seeing that people are reluctant to move," said
Since the fires, only three renters among the 974 units have submitted move-out notices, "which is pretty darn low for us," Goodwin said.
Many said they heard complaints of large rent hikes for new and existing tenants.
District Attorney
Such groups as Legal Aid and the
"The need was there prior to the fires and the need is even more necessary now," said Davin Cárdenas, a co-director of the organizing project.
Legal Aid would like the city to go further in dealing with the current crisis by enacting an emergency rent freeze, plus language limiting the reasons tenants can be forced to move.
To ease the rental shortage, most agreed the county needs more housing.
"We're going to work hard to build new housing as we work hard to replace destroyed housing," Coursey said.
He noted a meeting last week with
"There's a lot of interest focused on
To date, there haven't been signs of a large exodus of families because of the fires. For example, three schools around
Even so,
"These folks did a lot of the work that makes Wine Country, Wine Country," she said.
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