Copperwoman Spoke at BOS meeting 12.14.21

Copperwoman Tiny Home living room

On December 13th, Leo Chyi, Lynda Hopkins District Director, let us know there would be an item on the agenda to extend the permission for victims of fire to remain in temporary housing on their property the next day on Dec. 14th. I attended the BOS meeting to put in a plea to be allowed the same consideration for myself and others living in Tiny Homes etc.
Here is what I said to the board.

My name is Copperwoman Saso

I am 70 years old and I live in a 1-year old, state of the art, Tiny Home that is ANSI certified with proper electricity and water hookups.

I want to be allowed, just as trailers are allowed for fire victims, to live in my safe, affordable, alternative housing.

I received an eviction notice from Permit Sonoma in August due to a neighbor reporting my Tiny Home.

Fines accrued to over 10,000 and were reduced and I was given till mid January to become compliant.

It is prohibitively expensive to establish a septic system and I have a perfectly safe composting toilet and responsible composting system where the contact with waste is less than cleaning a regular toilet.

You have allowed people to live in alternative trailers and tiny homes since the fires and are voting to extend this measure. My home is no different than those allowed for this reason.

There is a housing shortage, raising the rents beyond what a low income person can afford. Put yourself in my place, would you want to answer a housing ad and move in with strangers at a rent that took most of your income?

I now live safely in my tiny home on 4 acres of land in rural Sebastopol where I have established a beautiful supportive community with the land owners.

At 70 there is no sensible reason and a hardship for me to find another place to live or put myself on the list to move to the new RV Village in Sebastopol on 116—which actually has a capacity to serve only 30 vehicles—and is being established to alleviate the line of motor homes on Morris St.

I am here to ask you to include me and others like me who live in safe affordable, alternative housing to be allowed to live simply and peacefully, the same as the fire victims in their temporary trailers.

I am leaving a few pictures of my  Tiny Home so you can see that it is a real house. (see below)

thank you