Sebastopol farmworker housing tenants sue management alleging fraud

By John Ramos

A group of Sebastopol tenants in farmworker housing is fighting their eviction, saying the attempt to remove them amounts to fraud.

“Neighbors united will never be defeated!” chanted demonstrators on Wednesday.  

When the owners of Woodmark Apartments in Sebastopol constructed it, the owners accepted money from the USDA with a mandate that it be used for farmworker housing. But when they began taking applications in December of 2024, tenant Beth Gallock said that didn’t seem to be a requirement.

“We explained we are not farmworkers. No one in our household is a farmworker. Are you sure we are eligible?” she said. “Yes, you’re eligible.”

Now, The Pacific Companies is faced with either pushing out the non-eligible residents and find farmworkers to fill the complex or risk losing millions of dollars in federal tax credits over the next 10 years.

Gallock said she’s not sure how hard they even tried to find tenants who would qualify.

“We’ve had a mass exodus of farmworkers. And they’re declaring bankruptcy in the wine industry because of the lack of farmworkers,” she said. “But I do think that they didn’t do due diligence either. We were just easier targets for them to get rent for a year.”

This September, the low-income residents say they were asked to sign a new lease agreement, attesting to being farmworkers or they would have to leave.

“We either had to perjure ourselves that we were suddenly farmworkers, or we had to become homeless,” Gallock said.

The tenants say either way it’s fraud, against them or against the federal government. And they filed a federal lawsuit to stop the evictions.  Their attorney, Anthony Prince, couldn’t attend the protest but spoke to reporters on the phone.

“Pacific Companies had engaged in attempted fraud against the United States government, the Department of Agriculture,” he said. “And actually perpetrated a fraud by inducing the plaintiffs in this case to sign a lease about which they did not disclose information that should have been disclosed.”

CBS News Bay Area reached out to The Pacific Companies for comment on Wednesday but got no response.  But earlier they sent a letter to the tenants saying they tried to get a waiver from the USDA for the farmworker requirement, but it was denied.  

The lawsuit is asking the judge to suspend the eviction proceedings, but Melissa Page said she can’t relax until she knows she can stay.  She was living unhoused with her young son and said finding the apartment was like a miracle to her.  

She even inquired about becoming a farmworker but, ironically, she said she wouldn’t be paid enough to be able to afford to stay.

“Yeah, I did look into it,” said Page. “Because I was willing to do anything to stay.  Because having this home has been life changing for my son.”