Owners say no rebuild for Journey’s End mobile homes
For more than four months, those who fled a Santa Rosa mobile home park swallowed by the historic Tubbs Fire waited for an answer on the fate of their community.
This week, it finally came, and it wasn’t the news many had hoped for. Journey’s End — a landing spot for many lowincome seniors after a lifetime spent working and raising children — will not be rebuilt. Instead, the park’s owners plan to partner with developers to build a mix of affordable and market-rate
housing on the 13.5-acre site.
“Our strongest desire is that we ensure that the need for senior affordable housing that was served by Journey’s End will be met through whatever redevelopment occurs at the park,” co-owner Ramsey Shuayto said in a letter sent Wednesday to former residents of the park, where 116 homes were reduced to ash and 44 others were red-tagged with heavy damage.
Nonprofit group Burbank Housing will construct at least 160 apartment units for lowincome seniors on the site, with Journey’s End residents receiving first priority, said Larry Florin, the group’s president. The eligibility criteria for those units is not yet clear.
Moreover, there’s no timeline for when ground will be broken for those units. First, the property must be cleared of debris and toxic material, the utilities restored, the contaminated well water addressed and the park rezoned for multifamily housing.
While Shuayto’s announcement wasn’t the worst-case scenario many residents feared — an outright sale of the lot — it didn’t bode well for former residents who had hoped to return home.
Many want to live in the park as it was, with Friday bingo and swimming dates with neighbors in the community pool. Some don’t think they’ll live long enough to move into the units Shuayto has promised them. And even if they do, they may not be able to afford the rent.
The tension at Journey’s End underscores the complexity and difficulty of rebuilding an area that saw entire neighborhoods, both inside and outside Santa Rosa, ravaged by the most destructive firestorm in state history. While some victims were fully insured and have moved to regain their lives, others are struggling emotionally and financially. The fire zone is dotted with “for sale” signs fronting leveled lots.
The fires that ignited Oct. 8 killed 45 people across Northern California, including two in the mobile home park. They ruined nearly 9,000 structures, exacerbating a housing crisis the region had faced long before the flames.
In Sonoma County, where one-bedroom apartments rent for $1,651 on average, Journey’s End residents paid $500 to $900 monthly. But at a meeting held Saturday, co-owner Shuayto said his family could not afford to rebuild the park as it was.
“I know that was a difficult decision,” said Greg Evans, president of Evans Management Services of Santa Cruz, which is overseeing the property. “His grandparents developed that park 60 years ago. I think his decision was driven by that.”
Shuayto could have sold the land to a commercial developer. After the wildfires, Evans’ phone rang often with interest. The features that made the property a haven for seniors — its prime location off Highway 101 and proximity to the city’s hospitals — also drew real estate agents. The offers were lucrative, and they kept coming. But Shuayto didn’t take them.
“The ideal outcome would have been to rebuild people’s homes as they were,” said Santa Rosa City Councilman Jack Tibbetts. “But we are grateful to Ramsey. The average person would’ve just sold out for the biggest dollar. He’s trying to do right by his residents.”
The county is “woefully inadequate” at providing housing for seniors, Tibbetts said, adding that he didn’t want the residents of Journey’s End to get lost in the mix.
Even with the mixed-income development proposed for Journey’s End, former residents said they felt overwhelmed by their plight. Many had considered the park to be their final home, until it was gone.
Journey’s End was where Dottie Hughes, 82, lived for 28 years with her husband. He died of cancer last year. Since the fires, she’s been living in a Santa Rosa hotel with her adult son. Last week, she had to go to the emergency room. She couldn’t breathe. It was probably stress, doctors said.
“They left us with no answers,” Hughes said. “They just changed seniors’ lives for the worse by closing the park on us. It was the only affordable place for us to go. I can’t even handle thinking about this because I start crying. What they’re considering lowincome is probably not lowincome to us.”
While the details get sorted out, John Triglia, 91, said he’ll keep caring for the 65 rose bushes that are planted around his former home. The trailer is standing but has been condemned because of asbestos contamination and the melted utilities. Triglia used to sneak in and prune the red, pink, orange and yellow flowers. Now the gates have been reopened for cleanup efforts.
He’s living in a Santa Rosa motel with his terrier mix, Sophie. He still owes money on the mortgage for his mobile home, which he bought in 2014. He’s not making plans yet, he said, because of a morbid sense of optimism.
“I’ll probably die before anything is resolved,” Triglia said. “The way things are moving, it’s taking too long. I won’t be here to enjoy the solutions. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m acting as if nothing is different, just pruning my roses.”
Other residents, like Winnifred Davis, 83, support redeveloping the park, though she cries when she thinks about what was lost. Davis loved the feeling of comradeship and safety. Her home had a new refrigerator and dishwasher, and she could get anywhere in the city quickly. She had independence and autonomy at Journey’s End — qualities lacking at her niece’s house in Sebastopol, where she now lives.
“It’s a valuable piece of land,” Davis said. “I don’t think it should be rebuilt the way it was. It really should have more than 160 units on it. But I probably couldn’t afford it. I’m a wreck now anyways. I get dizzy thinking about not going back.”
Life has been chaotic since the fires, Davis said. No one has followed up with her. She feels ignored. A postcard addressed to Davis came in the mail the other day, reading, “Have you moved? Let your insurance agent know!”
She smiled, sighed and threw the card away.