By: Joe Martinez, Sanctuary Community Relations / Outreach manager

“This is my home, and I don’t want to leave.” These words, exclaimed by Mr. Bill – a long-term resident of Storyland Inn Motel – greeted Tiffany Thomas, an AmeriCorps volunteer, and our entire Sanctuary Outreach to the Streets (SOS) team as they arrived to help Mr. Bill and 100 other displaced motel residents move. Earlier this year, Storyland Inn – the motel they were living in – was declared uninhabitable by code enforcement officials. “Everything was falling apart around them,” says JD Roberts, another SOS worker on special assignment, as he described the motel conditions of the crumbling ceilings, black mold on the walls, and broken windows of each unit.

Helping relocate 100 families was no easy feat. Armed with information, referrals and vouchers, the determined and experienced SOS team approached 46 crumbling and occupied units and begun the daunting task of relocating anxious residents to nearby motels with respect and dignity. “I can relate to Mr. Bill’s situation,” adds Tiffany with tears in her eyes. “It’s never easy to leave your memories behind.” One by one, each unit was vacated. Instead of displacing tenants simultaneously, a phased approach was developed to red tag the vacant units and then to relocate the tenants in occupied units.

“For many of the residents it was the misfortunes of life, not drugs, that brought them to the Storyland Inn,” said Youth Outreach Worker Latasha Marin. Recalling a women who was down on her luck, Marin says, “This woman showed me her pay stubs, and said she worked every day for the past year, I knew I had to help her – this was a mother with kids who was not looking for a handout but an opportunity to improve her situation.” Latasha helped relocate that woman and her children to a more permanent housing and they were extremely thankful.

The SOS team returned to the Sanctuary after two weeks at the motel. Cole Scroggins, another SOS outreach worker, will always remember one of many life lessons learned at the motel. “I learned to appreciate the simple things in life and not to take things for granted.”

Eventually, the last remaining residents were relocated with assistance from the City of Fresno to pay for first months rent at other motels along with moving and storage costs. The residents were able to close this chapter in their life, and start a new beginning with hope and optimism. Even though the residents may have complained about their housing conditions, a part of them still remains. For some, the motel represented a sense of community, a place called home. They were happy about moving, but were sad to leave behind so many memories.