photo credit: County of Sonoma
Elderberry Commons courtyard in Sebastopol.

Issues too big to ignore have been cropping up at Sebastopol's supportive housing complex, Elderberry Commons.

There was no shortage of concern voiced earlier this month during a discussion about Sebastopol's 28-unit supportive housing site.

The apartment complex was once the Sebastopol Inn, now called Elderberry Commons, and it was converted via California's 'Project Homekey' during the pandemic.

It serves formerly homeless individuals, placed into units by the county's coordinated entry system.

Alleged drug use, trespassing, and criminal activity have led to several police visits to the site since it reopened in March, said Sebastopol's police chief Sean McDonagh.

"We've spent a copious amount of time attending to this location for what I perceive to be avoidable issues that are outside of the police department or the city of Sebastopol's control," McDonagh said.

Sebastopol council member Jill McLewis, noted the issues with oversight haven't started overnight.

"Part of the issue is when they opened this facility, Burbank [Housing] had no property manager," McLewis said. "They made it very clear and it's in a lot of different things that they actually did not have anyone on site to manage; and then secondly, West County [Community] Services has made it clear that their job is to manage social services. Nothing else, nothing related to any of the property management."

Residents themselves, like Deirdre Dooling, said the living situation there is challenging.

"I'm more stressed, exhausted, and on high alert now than when I was living in my vehicle," Dooling said. "At least in my vehicle, I could generally stay away from the criminal activity and the chaos of people in places where drugs were used and sold. This is impossible at Elderberry Commons."

Sebastopol police count over 150 visits to the site since it opened as permanent supportive housing in March, but the city's hands are in some ways tied, administration at Elderberry Commons is handled by the County of Sonoma, not the City of Sebastopol.