As a new resident of this county, I am struggling to seek permanent, code compliant housing. Besides the lack of affordable options currently available, I have met many long time residents now also seeking housing options later in their life due to permitting/code violation issues. I have also heard from many people, usually elders of this community in Class K housing, fearful of code changes affecting their housing, and truly afraid of losing their homes they have poured their time, money, labor, heart and soul into to build.

We need both new development options made possible with innovative solutions, as well as a strong community centered amnesty housing program to protect the charming class K housing, ADUs, JADUs, and others that our community has been innovative about in a time of near impossible and expensive permitting issues.

Please support and approve a community based Amnesty program to align our County with AB2533, while customizing for the needs of this community. This will also help the County Planning-Building Department staff focus on genuine health and safety concerns, and meet the urgent needs of our community at the same time.

The new proposed code enforcements stand to cancel everything Governor Newsom says California represents. Sanctuary, Shelter from homelessness, affordable housing, equity, equality, and diversity. And AB2533 Requires an amnesty program for ADUs. Please stop the inhumane code enforcements and protect CA residents from perishing due to avoidable homelessness.

I support a fair and just amnesty regulation that will protect vulnerable elders who have been longtime citizens as well as other residents who may not have the funds to address the costly remediation of permit violations. It makes no sense to put people out of their homes when we have such a severe housing crisis and no way to house the people who need it most. Many of our elders have lived here for decades and they deserve the opportunity to live the remainder of their lives in their current homes. The county can take the highroad and be an example of reasonable compassion for the rest of the State by establishing an amnesty program that will allow people to remain in their homes in spite of non-hazardous permit violations.

This looks like an excellent way to increase housing in our County and is also covered under state law. If non-permitted ADUs need to install water heaters or HVAC we recommend that you encourage those items to be heat pumps. Heat pumps cost a third of what resistance, electrical units cost. The energy efficiency is well worth it.

My name is Sojourna Lee. I am a resident and board member of nonprofit Meadow Farm Community Land Trust (MFCLT) located in District 4.

AB 2533 as an amnesty law was never mentioned to me during the 2 years our board members have been working toward code violation amendments with the County Planning and Building Department. I think it might have been a bridge to a friendlier and easier pathway for all. AB8355 is worthy but still falls short for solving the housing crisis that exist for many people on the coast today. There needs to be similar consideration for houses post 2020 and not only ADUs and JADUs.

We need new ways to examine how simple housing can be maintained and achieved. Health and safety do not need a million-dollar house and a thick book of rules. Keep the Class K building code iintact as it reflects the innovation and creative spirit of many who have worked to make this a great community. Many of us live simply and still are productive and positive contributing members of our community. Let’s work together to ease the burden of home ownership. Either rented or owned a stable and affordable home is the basis for the health and well-being of this coastal population and all of Mendocino County residents..

Thank you for your attention and consideration of the basic needs of all people in your districts.

I am writing to ask our Board of Supervisors and Director of Planning and Building
Services to create a much stronger, more meaningful pro-housing mandate, with policy
changes that fully address the urgent housing-economic needs of our community.
I am also asking you to support our proposed community designed amnesty program,
which by law will include all the pro-housing protective provisions of the State’s
Amnesty Law, yet follow the lead of other communities, which add provisions that
provide a new pro-people and more compassionate lens: one that sees beyond
what has become an overly restrictive and harmful regulatory environment.
In our housing crisis, shutting down needed shelter simply because it cannot
meet complete code or existing regulatory rules – when it presents no real hazard
– lacks all humanity. As a nonprofit, we are deeply engaged with the stories and lives
of all members of our community. We see the genuine suffering of our young people,
working families, single working moms, and our elders. It can be prevented.
A major cause of our socio-economic pain is the high cost of ANY suitable shelter. It
leaves little for food, fuel and transportation. It helps drive the statistics that make our
County have among the highest rates of domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse.
When we ask our vulnerable clients and community members their number 1 need, it is
for stable and affordable housing. Without the basic foundation of stable shelter, it is
virtually impossible to maintain a job, one’s physical or mental health, or contribute skills
and talents to the community. Housing drives our people’s and economy’s total health.
The State’s Amnesty Law AB2533 included in our community designed program will at
least protect the existing irreplaceable housing we already have, even if unpermitted.
Many of our clients, young people and elders live in these affordable places, and cannot
afford current market based rentals. If unhoused, they often spiral downward.
This is why I am deeply concerned that the massive federal cuts to our nonprofit
services, to health care, housing, food security and social safety nets are going to cause
ever-increasing social unrest and chaos. We need the County to place a pause to
ongoing code enforcement unless there is a genuine hazardous threat. Please
protect our County’s most financially vulnerable citizens from any further harm.

This is why I am asking the Board of Supervisors and Planning for support for our
proposed community designed amnesty program with countywide design workshops.
By design, it will create the collaborative conversations and deeper connections that
bring all our countywide community members, nonprofits, agencies, city and county
employees to the same table. We can then achieve a workable amnesty program to
protect the housing we have, and lead to the longer term housing solutions and
policy changes we urgently need.
Working together to build communities of compassion, connection and care,

Dear Members of the Board of Supervisors,
As a resident of Mendocino County (District 4) and the Treasurer of the Meadow Farm Community Land Trust (MFCLT), I urge the Board to establish a community-designed amnesty program. California State Law AB 2533 is only a start. As your staff report states, the law only protects housing built before 2020. This is not enough. Mendocino County deserves an amnesty program that protects all housing stock (including housing built since 2020). The amnesty program should balance enforcement of safe building practices while addressing our community’s urgent socioeconomic and environmental needs. We need your help to create a much stronger, more meaningful pro-housing mandate with policy changes that lead to genuine pro-people housing reform.

Specifically, we request that the County streamline building and planning policies for seniors and other individuals with low to moderate income levels by lowering permit fees and cutting bureaucratic red tape. Navigating the complex process applying for permits and submitting drawings, paying fees, and completing construction projects are daunting for low to moderate income homeowners. To help provide sufficient time to obtain permits, make repairs, and complete the work, property owners should be granted five years to bring unpermitted structures into compliance when immediate health and safety hazards do not exist.

MFCLT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2013 to model sustainable living, climate resilience, affordable worker housing, food security, and regenerative agriculture. Supported by donations, the CA Department of Farm and Agriculture, and the Community Foundation of Mendocino, we offer educational workshops, disaster preparedness/response, sequester carbon, and donate thousands of pounds of organic produce annually to the local food bank, fundraisers and volunteers.

Despite our 12-year history of safe operation without a single neighbor complaint or injury, our organization is undergoing years of devastating financial and human costs due to aggressive, complaint-driven code enforcement. In 2023, following the lawful eviction of a volatile volunteer, a retaliatory complaint was filed with the County. This resulted in more than 25 cited code and environmental health concerns in early 2024. Most of these were minor and not serious safety issues. None were life threatening.

While our Board is fully committed to compliance, the associated fees and rigid timelines are punitive:

• Excessive Fees: Permitting three remote metal shipping containers has cost over $3,500 in permit and administrative fees alone. Similar exorbitant fees threaten our decades-old greenhouse and hoop houses, which pose no immediate public safety risks.

• Human and Financial Displacement: Three senior residents were forced to vacate their homes and secure expensive off-farm housing. This displacement has increased the farm's operational costs for mold remediation and security. Tragically, the overwhelming emotional and economic stress of relocation contributed to the passing of a 74-year-old resident just four weeks after being forced to vacate his home.

• Bureaucratic Roadblocks: The County halted progress on a DMV-licensed moveable tiny home intended for farmworker housing, demanding all other site issues be resolved first. Furthermore, archaic sanitation rules require a traditional septic system before a tiny home permit can even be reviewed. MFCLT has spent $10,000 on engineering studies, with an estimated $30,000 more required for installation. A small-scale organic farm cannot absorb a $40,000 septic mandate. The 28 acres property already has installed one 4 bedroom septic system.

To prevent further economic and human loss, we ask the Board to take the following actions:
1. Support Item R2: Schedule a Study Session on Reinstituting an Amnesty Program: Agendize a dedicated study session in October to formally consider public input and shape policy.
2. Support Item R6: Authorize the study of affordable, environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional septic systems, such as dry composting toilets, which align with our mission to conserve potable water, adapt to rising seal level and ground water, and provide an alternative to the conventional OWTS.
3. Implement a Community based Amnesty Program and Establish Pilot tests of Waterless Sanitation: Grant property owners five full years to bring structures up to code without facing prohibitive penalties and begin pilot projects to demonstrate the benefits of waterless OWTS for compliance cases involving septic or wastewater violations.

Thank you for your time, leadership, and commitment to protecting Mendocino County’s most vulnerable residents.
Sincerely,
John Risk
Treasurer and Board Member, Meadow Farm Community Land Trust

This e-comment follows my letter of August 24, 2026 to the Board of Supervisors re: the Community Designed Amnesty Program aligning with State Law AB2533. Though I am not an employer, as a behavioral health care provider in private practice in Fort Bragg, I am aware of the stresses and challenging conditions that coastal residents may face. An amnesty program that supports legalization of non-permitted ADUs built or converted prior to Jan 1, 2020 is a first step in addressing the housing crisis we are experiencing. Also needed are repairs that improve heating, sanitation, create safe healthy environments, and address the high rents, which aggravate the struggles of single parents and young people. I am hopeful that my patients and all residents in our communities can see improvements in their housing through legalization of ADUs, weatherization of their dwellings, efficient heating, working sanitation systems, and collaborative tenant/landperson relations.

By aligning with AB2533, we can protect our existing housing, upgrade it as possible to ensure safe and humane conditions, and expand the construction of housing that is affordable for the working families in the county.

I am asking the Board of Supervisors and the County’s Planning and Building Services Dept to support the proposed community designed amnesty program and facilitate and collaborate with our county communities in design workshops in view of establishing productive amiable connections that promote the longer-term housing initiatives and policy changes needed for healthy and sane living.

Thank you for your service to our county. We appreciate your consideration of the housing needs of the county’s residents.