Sonoma County eyes Sebastopol Inn as potential homeless housing
TYLER SILVY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
August 4, 2020, 6:36AM
Sonoma County housing officials are negotiating to buy the Sebastopol Inn, eyeing the 31-room boutique hotel near the heart Sebastopol’s downtown as a landing spot for vulnerable homeless residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move opens a new front in the county’s battle against homelessness, and would expand county control over more commercial real estate as it struggles to contain a deadly disease and combat one of its most intractable socioeconomic problems.
Located along a key west county gateway, the Sebastopol Inn is one of just two hotels in Sebastopol, according to city officials. Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents the area, said it was the inn’s owner who got the county’s attention with an offer to sell.
Supervisors will hear more about the potential purchase in a closed session during the board’s Tuesday meeting. Terms of the tentative deal were not disclosed by the county. A message left Monday with a hotel representative was not returned.
Hopkins, who has long cited the lower Russian River’s status as leading the county in per capita homelessness, embraced the Sebastapol Inn proposal, offering a stronger immediate endorsement of new homeless services than often accompanies such proposals.
“I absolutely welcome this,” she said.
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