The posts began to appear on social media within days of the start of the wildfires.
House wanted. Room needed. Family searching for home.
Now that hundreds of families and residents have been displaced by the fires, Napa’s tight housing market is about to get even tighter, according to Napa County housing experts.
“We already had a low rate, and it hasn’t improved,” said Kathleen Dreessen, executive director at Napa Valley Community Housing. “There’s nowhere for them to go.”
“Our vacancy was already about 2 percent or lower and 5 percent is considered healthy,” said Lark Ferrell, city of Napa housing manager.
With a sudden influx of new home seekers, “It’s only going to make the situation worse,” Ferrell said.
“Housing will remain a challenge for the community,” said Mitch Wippern, chief deputy director of Napa County Health and Human Services.
Losing any number of homes “in a housing climate like ours is no picnic,” said Terence Mulligan, president of the Napa Valley Community Foundation. “There is no rental inventory.”
The other factor is the cost of rent itself. According to zilllow.com, the median rent price in Napa is $2,700.
Mindy Wyman, owner of Wyman Property Management in Napa, said that her business has already seen an increase in the number of calls for housing.
She estimated about 75 percent of those calling are relocation companies hired by insurance companies to find their clients housing. About 25 percent are residents calling on their own behalf.
Inventory “is tight unfortunately,” said Wyman. She has some houses to rent. But as far as bigger houses, there is not a lot.” Most families want at least three bedrooms, she said.
Two-bedroom units aren’t in as much demand – yet. However, that could change when people realize the inventory for larger houses is gone, said Wyman.
Fernanda Navarro, operations manager at Crown Property in Napa, said the rental agency has gotten “many, many calls” for rental housing.
“They are asking for anything we have available and that they can move into today,” she said. With so many residents needing a new home, “I don’t know if we have as many properties as we need for everyone who has been affected.”
She estimated the company has 40 to 50 rental properties available, but not all are larger homes that families prefer.
For those who want to move in immediately, the company must still go through the full application process. That includes an application, credit check, verification of income and an on-site visit. “I know that they need a home right away but we don’t rent anything sight unseen,” she said.
The increased need for emergency housing shows how a natural disaster can worsen the existing inequities in the housing market, said Dreessen.
“If there is no housing built before a disaster, when you get a disaster you’re really going to feel it,” said Dreessen. “Especially for people that have no extra financial resources to find other housing and rebuild their lives.”
One point of service is the Local Assistance Center (LAC) that opened on Monday at the Health and Human Services campus in Napa on Monday.
The LAC is normally staffed and supported by local, state and federal agencies, as well as nonprofit and voluntary organizations. The LAC provides a single facility where individuals, families and businesses can access available disaster assistance programs and services.
Since the LAC just opened, there was no data yet available about how many Napans are in search of housing. “We don’t have a handle on what the community needs generally are,” Wippern said.
Now, the safety net for those in need of housing is most likely an emergency shelter like the one at CrossWalk Community Church, said Wippern. Other Napans have checked into hotels. Hopefully, the next step will include distributing cash aid for rental assistance, officials said.
Mulligan said that as of last Tuesday, $2.5 million has been donated the Napa Valley Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund. On Friday, $565,000 was distributed to community-based nonprofit agencies to support families and individuals impacted by the fires.
From those funds, “There’s no doubt we’re going to focus on housing,” he said.
Mulligan said his resources indicated that several hundred structures, including homes, had been destroyed in Napa County. Many of those property owners have fire insurance, unlike Napa’s other most recent disaster, the 2014 earthquake. Many of those impacted by the quake did not have earthquake insurance.
“It’s going to be a big challenge but our situation is far less severe than in Sonoma County. It could have been much worse,” said Mulligan.
Wyman said she admired the attitudes of those who have contacted her business looking for a home.
People are pretty philosophical about what’s happening,” said Wyman. The common comments are “We’ll rebuild, we’ll go on, (and) for now we need a place,” she said.
