Paso tenants will have their apartments treated for bedbugs — just as they’re being evicted
Paso Robles officials have ordered the Grand View Apartments landlords to fumigate the complex due to widespread bedbug and cockroach infestations — leaving hundreds of tenants in need of temporary shelter.
The landlords, Ebrahim and Fahimeh Madadi of Santa Barbara County, are being sued by their renters for allowing slum-like conditions to persist at the Spring Street complex.
The Madadis have declined to make $2.5 million in needed repairs to Grand View, and they’re going out of business and evicting their tenants instead.
Grand View is made up of five buildings with 54 units, and about 200 people lived there when the complex was full. Forty-six or 47 of the apartments remain occupied.
Stephanie Barclay of the SLO Legal Assistance Foundation and Allen Hutkin of Hutkin Law Firm are representing the tenants.
A public health risk
Renters have until mid-November or December to find new places to live, but they’ve struggled to secure housing due to their complex’s notoriety and the bedbug infestation that affects everyone living there.
The bedbugs have caused some residents to throw out their mattresses and furniture. Some tenants told Tribune reporters they now sleep on the floor with blankets, although bites and itching keep them from sleeping.
City staff visited 16 units in multiple Grand View buildings on Oct. 23 with help from the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department and Western Exterminators.
Inspectors found bedbugs and cockroaches in all of the units and buildings they toured, according to a notice of violation the city issued on Monday. They also found rodent infestations in some apartments.
The bedbug and cockroach infestations, especially, present a public health hazard, as residents could spread the vermin as they begin to move out of their units.
Due to the imminent evictions, landlords were ordered to have all of the complex’s buildings fumigated by Nov. 4.
The inspectors also found a lengthy list of other state health and safety code violations the landlords will be required to fix. Additional issues include expired fire extinguishers, missing smoke detectors, non-functioning heaters, mold, deteriorated ceilings, leaking plumbing and improper wiring.
Where will the tenants go?
Hundreds of residents must temporarily leave their apartments while the required fumigation is taking place. They will also need to have their belongings heat-treated, so they can safely take them out of their units without spreading vermin.
The city is managing the operation, and City Manager Tom Frutchey addressed the matter at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
City staff are soliciting bids from exterminators and making arrangements with local hotel owners, Frutchey told The Tribune on Thursday.
The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education has also offered its outdoor school campus in San Luis Obispo, which has dormitories that are not currently in use, Superintendent Jim Brescia said.
Residents who stay at the outdoor school would be bused to and from Paso Robles using San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority (RTA) vehicles, Frutchey said.
Although the city may front the money for some parts of the operation, the landlords will eventually need to repay the costs, Frutchey said.
Some organizations have also expressed interest in providing donations, including Travel Paso and the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, he said.
Many residents are grape-pickers or work in Paso Robles vineyards, so organizations want to help the employees that drive the local economy.
Although the notice requires the fumigation to take place by Monday, Frutchey acknowledged it likely won’t occur that quickly.
“There’s a lot of coordination that needs to happen,” he said.