Page 254 – Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

County Urged to Increase Covid Rent Assistance Outreach

Local News

Aug 4, 2021

County Urged to Increase Covid Rent Assistance Outreach

With Covid variant cases on the rise throughout the country, federal lawmakers allowed the Center for Disease Control’s Covid-19 eviction protections to temporarily lapse at the end of July.

Although a more limited federal eviction moratorium is now in place, the temporary gap served drew renewed attention to how many American households are still at risk of eviction due to unpaid rent.

Sonoma County and California would not have been impacted by the end of the CDC’s moratorium immediately because both have passed their own laws regulating evictions during the pandemic. However, Sonoma County is among state and local governments across the country which continue to struggle to distribute federal rent relief funds—potentially leaving renters and landlords with unpaid bills once the protections do end.

All told, the federal government has allocated Sonoma County $49.6 million through two Emergency Rental Assistance Programs, according to a staff report from a July 27 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting. So far, however, the county has been fairly slow to disburse the money through its newly-created rent relief program.

Between April 19 and June 3, county staff reported that the nonprofits had distributed $2.7 million to 1,477 tenants and landlords. Then, at the July 27 meeting, county staff said that they had handed out a total of $5.3 million to 2,468 tenants and landlords by July 15.

While the amount distributed by the county almost doubled between the two reports, the county still has only distributed 10.7% of the total $49.6 million in federal funding available.

Sonoma County is far from alone in this struggle. U.S. Treasury data released in late July shows that the federal government had distributed just 12% of the first $25 billion of rent relief funds by June 30, just a month before the CDC’s eviction moratorium came to an end.

The struggle to distribute the funds seems to be, at least in part, due to a nationwide failure to inform renters and landlords about the existence of the relief funds. A survey of over 2,300 renters and landlords published by the Urban Institute on June 30 found that more than half of renters and 40 percent of landlords were unaware that federal rent relief money existed.

Sonoma County officials and nonprofits have reported a similar problem locally.

Earlier this year, the county signed a contract with Legal Aid of Sonoma County to offer legal advice to local tenants in precarious housing situations. During a public comment portion of the July 27 Board of Supervisors meeting, Suzanne Dershowitz, a housing policy attorney at Legal Aid, said that “Most tenants our Homelessness Prevention Attorney has spoken with in the last 4 months had never heard of the [county rent relief] program.”

As a result of the lack of public information and slow distribution of funds, some are urging the county to increase its outreach efforts to include direct mailers and Nixle emergency alerts in English and Spanish to inform renters and landlords about the available funds.

“Strategies like going door-to-door at the neighborhood level or sending out a brochure in English and Spanish to every renter in the county are best practices the County should prioritize as soon as possible,” Dershowitz said at the July 27 meeting.

County officials should also consider equity while informing the community about the rent relief program. Sonoma County renters make up 40% of all households and are disproportionately people of color. While 37% of white households are renters, 63% of Latinx or Hispanic households and 89% of Black or African American households are renters, according to a staff report.

At the July 27 meeting, Tina Rivera, the interim director of the county’s Department of Health Services, acknowledged that distributing information about the program to all groups has “truly been a barrier.” Rivera said that the county participated in a public forum to inform landlords about the rent relief program and is currently working to improve outreach, including to undocumented residents.

Also complicating the communication process is the fact that local, state and federal rules around evictions and rental assistance have changed numerous times throughout the pandemic.

At the beginning of the program, the state allowed landlords to receive 80% reimbursement for rent that went unpaid due to the pandemic. Now, thanks to a new state law, AB 832, landlords and tenants can receive 100% reimbursement for unpaid rent anytime since April 2020, as long as they fill in the proper paperwork and make less than 80% of area median income—about $93,000 for a family of four in Sonoma County.

That said, at least one glaring hole in the rent relief program still exists. If a tenant turned to family, friends or money lenders to cover their rent payments during the pandemic, those bills are not eligible for reimbursement through the rent relief program, Rivera said during the July 27 meeting.

Based on previous statements by nonprofit and county officials doling out the money, a considerable portion of possible recipients fall into that category, although specific numbers are not available.

Still, under new state rules, those tenants might be qualified for payments to help them pay rent in the coming months.

“We have been telling our clients and the community to apply for rental assistance EVEN IF you borrowed money to stay current on rent, you moved, your landlord/master tenant refuses to apply, or you have already received rental/utility assistance in the past,” Dershowitz, the Legal Aid attorney, told the Bohemian in an email.

Some aspects of the state eviction moratorium are currently scheduled to end on Sept. 30. Meanwhile, Sonoma County’s protections, as currently written, are set to expire 60 days after the county’s Covid-19 declaration of emergency.

Despite the state and local rules, some evictions have continued in Sonoma County. Between March 19, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office served 145 eviction notices, according to KQED. The number of tenants who left their housing after being threatened with eviction is likely much higher but currently unknown.

To submit a rent relief application, visit SoCoEmergency.org/erap.

BYOB: New Film Finds Heroes Among Flames

Charlie Swanson

Aug 4, 2021

BYOB: New Film Finds Heroes Among Flames

For the past five years, residents in the North Bay and throughout the state of California have lived with the fear and horror of wildfire threats and disasters.

So, it may sound strange to recommend a movie that brings those horrors to the big screen. Yet, the new documentary, Bring Your Own Brigade, is a film that captures more than the flames. Instead, it finds and celebrates the heroes who risk their lives to battle the recent string of fire catastrophes while examining the root causes of the now-seasonal plight facing the state.

Helmed by two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker, Bring Your Own Brigade begins its story in early November 2018, when several wildfires—including as the Woolsey fire and Camp fire that together killed 88 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in the communities of Malibu and Paradise—engulfed the state.

Born in England, Walker now lives in Venice, California. Already, her film work has been compared to documentary masters like Errol Morris, and Bring Your Own Brigade contain a similar cinema verité style and character-driven stories that Morris pioneered in his documentaries of the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Drawing on hundreds of hours of frightfully stunning video footage shot by fleeing residents who found themselves surrounded by walls of flames, the film offers a palpable “you-are-there” intensity that serves to highlight the severity of the crisis.

Accompanying the raw fire footage, Bring Your Own Brigade contains candid interviews with shell-shocked survivors, firefighters and rescue workers directly impacted by the wildfires, as well as with scientists and historians studying the causes of these fires, and indigenous tribal leaders who may hold the keys to solving the wildfire puzzle in their generational knowledge.

Among these compelling characters, audiences learn of Fire Battalion Chief Maeve Juarez, whose courageous efforts saved countless lives; bulldozer operator Joe Kennedy, who risked death to clear an evacuation path for trapped residents; and Paradise-resident Brad Weldon, who opened his house to 20 neighbors left homeless in the aftermath of the Camp fire.

As a result, Bring Your Own Brigade works as both an eyewitness account of the fiery devastation wreaked upon California communities, and as an investigation into the causes of—and potential solutions to—the global wildfire epidemic that’s engulfing the West Coast and, more recently, igniting in countries like Turkey and Spain.

While the film finds that climate change and forest mismanagement made the situation worse in the past several years, there is also hope. In the end, Bring Your Own Brigade offers simple steps that can be taken to not only lessen the death and destruction caused by wildfires, but to help balance and revitalize natural woodlands and wilderness for future generations. If only we as a society can come together to confront the crisis together.

‘Bring Your Own Brigade’ opens on Friday, Aug. 6, at select theaters including Century Regency 6, 280 Smith Ranch Rd., San Rafael (Cinemark.com); and Rialto Cinemas, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol (Rialtocinemas.com). The film will be available for streaming on Aug. 20 via Paramount+ and CBS News.

Bay Area Health Officials Issue New Indoor Mask Mandate

Eli Walsh, Bay City News Service

Aug 2, 2021

Bay Area Health Officials Issue New Indoor Mask Mandate

Health officials in seven Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley issued a new indoor mask mandate Monday as the region faces a wave of new Covid-19 cases due to the more infectious delta variant and the remaining swath of unvaccinated residents.

The mandate will take effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties as well as Berkeley and require residents to wear a mask indoors in public settings like retail stores, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated or not.

Health officials in the seven counties also urged residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible if they have yet to do so, noting that the prevalence of the delta variant puts unvaccinated people at even higher risk of infection, serious illness and death.

While so-called breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated people are possible, the health officials noted they remain exceedingly rare and the three available vaccines also significantly reduce the chance of developing serious illness or dying from Covid-19.

“We know that face coverings work to prevent the circulation of the virus, and with contagious variants spreading it has become clear that mask wearing is again necessary,” Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said in a statement on Monday. “Masking and vaccinations are the most important tools we have to end the pandemic. The vaccine is safe, effective, free and widely available. We encourage all residents to do their part in wearing their masks to keep themselves, their families and their community safe.”

Trio of Sonoma Art Shows Celebrate Local Talent

Charlie Swanson

Jul 30, 2021

Trio of Sonoma Art Shows Celebrate Local Talent

This summer, several artistic exhibitions in Sonoma present West Coast and North Bay-based artists working in a variety of mediums.

This year, wine country marketplace Cornerstone Sonoma partners with Oakland-based SLATE Contemporary to feature a series of three art exhibitions that will run eight-weeks each through December 2021.

Currently on display, “Summer Color by SLATE @ Cornerstone”–the first show in the series–features contemporary paintings, prints, and sculpture from West Coast artists Suzanne Frazier, Bean Finneran, Juan-Alonso Rodrigez, Tobias Toveras and Kate Zimmer.

Each artist is inspired by nature in their abstract artworks. Suzanne Frazier’s circular flower paintings and prints are derived from the colors of individual pixels from her digital flower photographs. Tobias Tovera’s compositions are inspired by coastal topography, tidal patterns and geodes. Juan Alonso-Rodriguez’s color field paintings are inspired by gazing at the horizon across the sea. Kate Zimmer’s colorful paintings refer both to the Bay Area and to the artist’s native Midwest. Sculptor Bean Finneran creates forms and abstract shapes from clay that evoke natural forms such as sea anemones, coral reefs, haystacks and wind-blown grasses.

“Summer Color” can be viewed through August 29. Fridays to Sundays, 11am to 5pm, or Mondays to Thursdays by appointment, at 23570 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. Cornerstonesonoma.com/events.

Opening on Thursday, Aug. 5, the Sonoma Community Center presents five North Bay fiber artists using traditional techniques to create unconventional works in “Stitches: Outside the Lines.”

“Stitching has long been associated with mending or sewing a garment, so to see the immense range and creativity of our featured artists in the upcoming exhibit is inspiring,” Eric Jackson, Creative Programs Manager of Sonoma Community Center, says in a statement.

The five featured artists are Frances Arnold, Lori Goldman, Emily Marks, Janet McBeen and Hella Merrill. The artists all work in embroidery, crochet, knitting, twisting and weaving; and they specialize in creating repetitive patterns, applying one material on another and using unusual and unexpected materials.

“Stitches: Outside the Lines” opens with a reception and artist talk on Aug. 5, at the Sonoma Community Center’s Gallery 212, 276 East Napa Street, Sonoma. 5:30pm. Free. Sonomacommunitycenter.org.

Up next, the Arts Guild of Sonoma is opening a two-month exhibition in which 23 artist members present their art through August and September.

Those artist members include nationally and internationally recognized veteran mixed media artist Kirk Hinshaw and prolific watercolor artist Irene Ehret; both of whom were recently honored alongside Roberta Alexander with Lifetime Memberships to the Arts Guild of Sonoma.

The Arts Guild’s member showcase opens with a reception on Saturday, Aug 7, at 140 East Napa Street, Sonoma. 5pm. Free. Artsguildofsonoma.org.

Unvaccinated Propel New Wave of Covid Cases in North Bay

Nikki Silverstein and Will Carruthers

Jul 28, 2021

Unvaccinated Propel New Wave of Covid Cases in North Bay

Six weeks after California officials reopened the economy, the state grapples with the fourth wave of Covid-19. New statewide vaccination requirements were announced on Monday, July 26, and North Bay counties now urge residents to wear masks in public spaces.

On July 26, California became the first state in the country to require that all state and health care workers be vaccinated or submit to Covid testing at least once a week. Ten days earlier, Marin and Sonoma County health officials joined other Bay Area authorities to recommend residents wear masks indoors, although state and local regulations no longer require fully vaccinated individuals to do so. Napa County issued its indoor mask recommendation days later.

The delta variant, an especially contagious strain of Covid-19 first detected in India, is able to infect vaccinated people at a higher rate than previous strains, and has become more and more prevalent.

As a result, “variant” is now a misleading term, Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer, said. Similar to the trend statewide, it is now the dominant version of Covid-19, representing 80–90% of Marin’s new cases.

In California, the delta variant comprised 43% of Covid cases in June. Nationwide, the figure was 58%, according to the Centers for Disease Control. By late July, the delta variant accounted for nearly 83% of all new cases in California.

Although they now recommend wearing masks again, health officials are careful to highlight that getting vaccinated is the most important step residents can take.

“We’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of educating our community… Vaccination is by far the most important strategy, followed by face coverings in indoor public settings,” Willis said last week.

Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s public health officer, mirrored the comments in a July 16 statement announcing the regional mask recommendation.

“After vaccination, masking is the next most powerful tool we have to protect ourselves and each other during this latest wave of infections,” Mase said. “Wearing masks, especially indoors and in crowded outdoor settings, will help us contain this more transmissible variant.”

So far, neither county has mandated the use of masks for vaccinated or unvaccinated people.

“I do not anticipate moving from our current stance of recommending masks to mandating them,” Willis said last week.

By Sunday, July 25, 62% of all Californians 12 and older were fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, 86% of eligible Marin County residents and 70% of Sonoma County residents had been fully vaccinated. Marin has the highest vaccination rate in the state and one of the highest in the nation.

Sonoma County had 1,040 active Covid cases as of July 25, the highest rate in the county since March. The first two weeks of July saw 10 deaths, out of a total of 329 deaths throughout the pandemic.

One Covid death occurred last week in Marin County, the first in the county in two months, with a total of 186 deaths throughout the pandemic. The county confirmed 327 active cases over the past two weeks, as of July 26.

Marin, one of the first counties to recognize the particular threat of the highly-transmissible delta variant, identified its initial case in April. The county has prioritized whole genome sequencing, the process that allows the identification of variants.

Between 20–25% of all Marin cases occur in the totally vaccinated, according to Willis. These occurrences, known as “breakthrough cases,” are defined as a case in a person who was vaccinated two or more weeks earlier. There have been 177 breakthrough infections in the county. However, unvaccinated residents account for over 90% of all hospitalizations and 100% of all deaths in Marin.

In Sonoma County, 83% of people hospitalized with Covid-19 have been unvaccinated, officials announced on Tuesday.

Marin health officials have not seen a significant difference of risk for breakthrough infections based on the type of vaccination received.

While Marin and Sonoma counties have higher-than-average vaccination rates, recent outbreaks in both counties also show the ongoing risks—especially for vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness and children under the age of 12 who are not eligible to be vaccinated.

In early July, the Press Democrat broke news that 47 of 153 residents of Sam Jones Hall, Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter, had tested positive for the delta variant.

The outbreak represented the largest known infection in the county’s unhoused population since the start of the pandemic. By July 26, the outbreak had spread to 107 residents and several staff members.

Sam Jones, which Catholic Charities of Sonoma County had operated at lower capacity throughout the pandemic, ran at 70% capacity by July. Less than half of the residents had been vaccinated.

Catholic Charities acknowledged that they had not required residents to provide a negative Covid test before being admitted to the shelter, but instead simply screened for symptoms. One resident of the shelter told the Press Democrat that the nonprofit had not enforced masking and other safety guidelines very strictly prior to the outbreak.

Marin County experienced two outbreaks of the delta variant in May. A cluster of 30 cases, all attributed to the delta strain, occurred in the neighboring towns of Fairfax and San Anselmo. Contact tracing did not find a superspreader event or a single identifiable source.

Our Lady of Loretto School, a private Catholic K-8 school in Novato, suffered a spate of delta variant infections beginning in late May. All those infected were unvaccinated, including some children who were too young to receive the vaccine.

At this point, the unvaccinated—who have had months to obtain their vaccinations, which have been widely available at convenient times and locations—have made a decision to delay. Unfortunately, the vaccine-hesitant are now prolonging the pandemic, especially because the delta variant is highly transmissible.

“My concern is that people may misunderstand breakthrough cases as a sign that the vaccine is not effective,” Willis said. “In fact, the vaccine is highly protective against severe illness and death, even against the delta variant. Because this variant is more contagious and is spreading more quickly, it finds unvaccinated people. If they aren’t protected by the vaccine, we could still be at risk for surges of people coming into the hospital and preventable deaths.”