Twenty-two families facing a surprise Thursday deadline to clear out
of temporary housing in Yuba City could learn early next week whether
state officials will grant them a reprieve.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development could
decide "Monday or Tuesday" the future of tenants quartered at the
Richland Housing Center, at Garden Highway and Percy Avenue, since
December, Chris Westlake, the agency's financial assistance director,
said Friday.
A dispute about how long the families can stay in some of the 79
duplexes reserved for seasonal farm laborers at Richland Housing
threatens an abrupt end to their stay.
The Consolidated Area Housing Authority of Sutter County notified
tenants Thursday they must leave by April 23 in order to get their
April rent refunded, or risk expulsion by police if they stay past
April 30.
Federal funding cuts have crimped the county's ability to give
low-income tenants rent vouchers and swelled the waiting list to more
than 3,000 applicants, leading the housing authority to ask state
permission to keep families at the Richland Housing complex as late as
June 30.
A winter shelter program with Salvation Army backing began four
years ago in Yuba City and usually keeps participants — including
recovering alcoholics and drug addicts — in unused migrants' apartments
from December to March.
But with farmworkers due to arrive in the county in early May,
Westlake was unwilling to risk shutting out laborers from their
seasonal homes.
"We've never gone into farm season in the past," he said, calling
the dispute the first of its kind involving one of California's 25
migrant housing centers. "We need to confirm if there's any state laws
tied to the housing and the dollars tied to it. If we have increase in
farmworker families coming into the area, they could be turned away
from housing they use year after year."
However, Satwant Takhar, chairman of the housing authority board,
questioned whether enough farm laborers would arrive to fill all the
apartments reserved for them.
Allowing current residents to stay into the summer will buy them time not only to find new homes but also jobs.
"These families are on a fixed income," said Takhar. "Even if we get them housing, they may not be able to afford the rent."
A state subsidy took over for Salvation Army funding in late March
to help keep families at Richland Housing, and tenants said they signed
contracts to stay there until June 30 with the promise of high priority
for rent vouchers.
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