Housing advocates press Council for ‘state of emergency’ status

Members of Sonoma United Methodist Church (SUMC) and the Sonoma Valley Housing Group will present a housing resolution to the Sonoma City Council tonight.

The resolution calls on the Council and the County Board of Supervisors to declare “a housing state of emergency” and to take “every possible step to solve it,” said spokesperson Dave Ransom.

Members of the church’s Spiritual Action group will address the Council during the public-comment period at the beginning of the meeting.

Since the issue is not on tonight’s agenda, Council members will be unable to immediately respond. SUMC’s presenters will ask the Council to put housing on the agenda at the earliest possible date.

The resolution sums up the ideas brought up by the more than 200 people who attended the June 17 housing forum at El Verano Elementary School and by others who attended a June 14 congregational conversation at Sonoma United Methodist. The Sonoma Valley Housing Group, which includes members of SUMC’s Spiritual Action, hosted the El Verano forum.

Both the church and the housing group have endorsed the resolution.

Spiritual Action and the Sonoma Valley Housing Group are also collecting signatures on a petition requesting the City Council and the Board of Supervisors to declare the state of emergency. It calls on them to emphasize “rent stabilization, tenants’ rights, zoning for boarding houses and cooperatives, and the building of affordable housing.”

The documents are being circulated in both English and Spanish.

Ransom said The Housing Group will offer Council members and Supervisor Susan Gorin an opportunity to respond publicly in coming weeks.