Coronavirus brings new challenges for apartment dwellers in Sonoma County

Under normal circumstances, hospital worker Tiffany Lacey makes hygiene a priority. But with the shelter-in-place order, it’s never been more critical to keep her uniform clean to avoid picking up the coronavirus at her job and bringing it home to her family and neighbors at her north Santa Rosa apartment complex.

It was already difficult for Lacey to snag one of the few washing machines at the 18-unit complex. Now that she’s washing her clothes daily - and most of her fellow tenants are staying home from work - it’s harder than ever.

She’s also struggled to keep her 9-year-old son Jayden occupied and away from possible infection now that he’s home from school and unable to go outside and ride his scooter or shoot Nerf guns with other kids in the complex.

“My neighbors are literally right next to me and we share a porch,” said Lacey, 32. “They still mingle with each other without masks on, and multiple children have knocked on the door multiple times asking if he can come and play and I say, ‘Sorry, he can’t.’ It’s hard, he misses his friends, for sure.”

Her experience is not unique in Sonoma County, where tens of thousands of renters are adjusting to the challenges of staying healthy during the coronavirus pandemic while living in high-density apartment complexes.

Almost 40% of the 205,000 housing units in Sonoma County are occupied by renters, according to U.S. Census data. In Santa Rosa alone, nearly half of the city’s roughly 64,000 housing units are rentals, according to Assistant City Manager David Guhin, and many of them are multi-unit complexes. Statewide, about two-thirds of the 6 million rental properties are multifamily developments, according to the California Apartment Association, a trade group for the state’s landlords.

The bulk of local cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, have appeared in more crowded, urbanized areas of Sonoma County, said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer. But multifamily housing complexes haven’t been a high priority in prevention efforts because there has been little evidence of communal transmission, she said.

The response by local landlords has been varied. Some rolled out hand sanitizer stations and signs encouraging social distancing and face coverings, but others largely ignored public health restrictions.

In fact, some have continued to operate business as usual, said Ronit Rubinoff, executive director of Legal Aid of Sonoma County. The legal assistance nonprofit, which operates a housing hotline, saw calls for advice spike after Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials suspended evictions because so many Californians are out of work. The order also barred nonessential real estate activities, such as unit inspections or repairs unrelated to health and safety.

“There’s a lack of understanding about what is allowed and what is not allowed, and it’s very scary for a lot of tenants not in control of their premises,” Rubinoff said. “You wouldn’t want a bunch of people parading into your house right now. When you’re already dealing with that kind of anxiety, having someone come in and infect you is the last thing people need right now.”

Some renters are feeling very stressed, said Brittany Affronti, who moved out of a four-bedroom house in Cloverdale with a big backyard and garden this month and into a 1,100-square-foot apartment near Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa.

“Yeah, it’s very strange. Everyone is keeping such a wide distance and there’s no socializing,” said Affronti, 32, a Montessori school teacher who is now working from home while balancing her bachelor’s degree online and also trying to entertain her 4-year-old son Julien. “I’m really fortunate to be able to have people that I can call up if I’m just feeling super overwhelmed. I know people who don’t have that feel extremely isolated and stressed.”

Renters have had to become more mindful about high-touch public areas that are ripe for exposure to the virus, including common entryways, mailboxes and elevators. To protect residents, many complexes have closed fitness centers, swimming pools, hot tubs and children’s play areas.

In some cases, it’s even riskier to close off shared spaces like garbage drop-off areas or laundry rooms, which could force residents out into the community to meet their needs. The concern sent property managers racing to post new safety guidelines in the days before and after Newsom issued a stay-home order last month to slow the spread of the virus.

“We have to keep our level of service where it’s been,” said Ben Wickham, chief operating officer of affordable housing nonprofit Burbank Housing, which oversees about 3,500 units. “Before we’d sweep, tidy up, and empty the garbage, and now we’re using Clorox wipes and made it a daily routine at our properties. We can’t make guarantees - it’s not like it’s an operation room. But we implemented it as soon as we understood the gravity of the situation.”

Longer-term questions remain about how tenants will afford to keep a roof over their heads.

One in 10 workers in Sonoma County - nearly 25,000 people - filed applications for unemployment benefits last month. Property owners have continued to work with tenants to waive late fees and develop rental payment plans, but the economic crisis grants a unique chance for both sides to join forces on a statewide solution, said Alex Khalfin, the North Bay vice president of public affairs for the California Apartment Association.

“We’re not going to walk out of this in sort of a rosy environment,” he said. “But when this happens, it’s an opportunity to step back and say we agree on the larger picture here, that housing is important and we need to work together to get through the funding piece of it all to make it work. We’re closer on the issues than we believe. At the end of the day, we need each other to provide housing.”

In the meantime, Julia Turner, 40, and her three young daughters recently relocated from a house with a backyard and have felt cramped in their new digs at a two-bedroom apartment off Snyder Lane in Rohnert Park. Keeping the two school-aged girls focused on their studies while she works remotely has been a challenge, she said, but they’ve learned to hunker down inside and find benefits in the unexpected situation.

“We were very excited when we first moved in, because there’s a swimming pool and tennis court and racquetball court, but they closed it all down,” Turner said. “So we’ve got nothing to do and are just hanging out in the house. They drive me nuts and are crazy kids, but it’s offered more quality time together and brought us closer together as a family. And that’s made me happier overall.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com.