Thank you for joining 3,000 other caring people who signed our petition to stop Permit Sonoma’s evictions of people living safely in trailers, tiny homes, and other simple and affordable housing.
On February 8th, Supervisors will meet again to finalize the 2022 agenda. The Campaign to Stop All Government Evictions from Safe Affordable Alternative Housing is urging voters to call their supervisor at (707) 565-2241 or email them (info below) to urge them to vote for an urgency ordinance like our proposed moratorium here – or at least place it on the agenda early in the year for public discussion. It is vital that as many people as possible contact the Supervisors before the February 8th meeting.
On January 25, during a Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting to set the legislative agenda for 2022, a growing group of housing activists and representatives from local civic groups urged the Board of Supervisors to pass a moratorium on code enforcement evictions of people living in safe alternative housing.
During public comment, fourteen members of the public asked Supervisors to place the moratorium on the 2022 agenda. In addition to those speakers, other members of the public who came to speak on climate and labor issues also voiced support for both the moratorium and legalizing compost toilets.
Yet even with what one supervisor noted was a record number of public comments for an agenda setting meeting, a majority of supervisors seem unwilling to even place a discussion of these unpopular government evictions on the coming year's agenda.
One of the commenters that spoke in favor of a moratorium was Blake Hooper, a candidate for Rabbitt’s 2nd district supervisory seat. “Please add an emergency ordinance to protect alternative housing to the calendar as well," Hooper commented. "Talk is cheap when it comes to solving our affordable housing crisis if you’re not willing to protect the housing that we have!"
Among the other members of the public supporting a moratorium on safe affordable alternative housing was Margaret DeMatteo, a Housing Policy Attorney with Sonoma County Legal Aid. “Legal Aid of Sonoma County supports safe affordable alternative housing and an end to Permit Sonoma’s policy of ticketing property owners and red tagging.” Michael Stanford, a Sonoma County Tenants Union board member and two climate activists with the Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations also spoke in support of protecting safe affordable alternative housing.
After the public comment period ended, Linda Hopkins was the only supervisor to advocate for a moratorium to put a stop to Permit Sonoma’s evictions of safe alternative housing. "What are the tools at code enforcement’s disposal to try and keep folks in their homes while we work towards solutions for some of these dwellings, which are habitable and do not present any sort of a safety risk to the inhabitants but are not currently permissible under our code,” she said. I’d appreciate hearing from the county counsel on the opportunities in terms of a stay of enforcement or moratorium.”
Despite broad community support, passing, or even debating, a Permit Sonoma moratorium will be an uphill battle. Since we first launched this petition at least another 76 individuals have lost their homes due to Permit Sonoma's enforcement actions.
How You Can Help
We are asking all Sonoma County residents willing to help to please call your county supervisor at (707) 565-2241 and urge them to place an urgency ordinance protecting unpermitted people from eviction on the agenda for early 2022.
Or email all the County Supervisors and tell them where you live and a few sentences on how you feel about this and why. You can email them all at once and let us know you have done so by pasting these addresses into an email:
Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org, Arielle.Kubu-Jones@sonoma-county.org, David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org, Andrea.Krout@sonoma-county.org, Chris.Coursey@sonoma-county.org, sean.hamlin@sonoma-county.org, district4@sonoma-county.org, jchamber@sonoma-county.org, district5@sonoma-county.org, Leo.Chyi@sonoma-county.org, campaigns@progressivesource.com (this cc would allow us to have a record of the number of supportive emails).