A Californian commune was ordered by county officials to either clean-up or face eviction after finding residents living in unclean and hazardous conditions.
The settlement, dubbed ‘Yee Haw’, is nestled in the Redwood Coast near the seaside town of Trinidad and is owned by Charles Garth.
His tenants describe him as a man deeply committed to serving his community and willing to share his refuge with those who are in need.
But during the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting on September 24, he was framed as an as irresponsible man and a 39-week plan was invoked to force the commune to clean up the property or move on.
In photos shown at the meeting, the community is depicted as one filled with makeshift outhouses made from plywood and buckets. Containers are seen laying around with human waste amid the illegally-constructed homes.
The Yee Haw commune, nestled in the Redwood Coast, is in an uproar after county officials laid out a 39-week plan to force the community to clean up the property or face eviction.
Charles Garth owns the property near the seaside town of Trinidad.
In photos shown at the meeting it depicts a community filled with makeshift outhouses made from plywood and buckets, containers laying around with human waste and illegally constructed homes
John Ford, the county’s Director of Planning and Building, claims Garth owes $63,000 in fines, penalties and administration costs.
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Garth hasn’t paid these fines even though a lien was filed against the property, it was claimed.
‘There are adults and children living in these structures without the minimum safety standards,’ Ford said.
For around 40 years, the commune has been home to Humboldt County residents who are down on their luck financially, or choose to embrace the ways of of living off the land.
They began to butt heads with county official back in May 2001 when the were served abatement notices after finding dangerous code violations on the property by the Planning and Building unit.
The Yee Haw commune was labeled as a hazardous 12-acre piece of land that included violations such as a lack of fire and carbon dioxide detectors, electrical hazards, wood stoves without flues and unsafe structures.
The county’s Director of Planning and Building, John Ford, holds an array of concerns over adults and children living in structures ‘without the minimum safety standards’
Ford alleges Garth owes $63,000 in fines, penalties and administration costs
The commune has been home to Humboldt County residents who are down on their financial luck or dreaming a life living off the land for around 40 years
They also noted 14 junk vehicles that some residents occupied in 2021 with barrels of human waste in the trunks.
But Garth and other residents of Yee Haw said this recent assessment doesn’t represent the state of the community, as the last inspection was in 2022 and the photos shown at the September 24 board meeting were from 2018.
Ford confirmed their inquisition into Garth’s commune is complaint-driven from the surrounding community.
One tenant of Yee Haw, who has lived there for five years with her family, said she knows from an outside perspective they look like a ‘bunch of dirty hippies’ but that she values her community and the cabin she lives in.
She said the community temporarily houses people who are teetering on homelessness in the area.
They began to butt heads with county official back in May 2001 when the were served abatement notices after finding dangerous code violations on the property by the Planning and Building unit
1,700 people, or 1% of the population, is homeless in Humboldt County, according to the Arcata House Partnership
Less than half the tenants who live on the commune pay rent. Those who do pay around $50 to $200 based on their income
Around 1,700 people, or 1% of the population, is homeless in Humboldt County, according to the Arcata House Partnership.
Less than half the tenants who live on the commune pay rent. Those who do pay around $50 to $200 based on their income, SFGate reported.
Supervisors said at the end of the meeting that an inspection of the property would be conducted to see if claims from tenants that the violations are inaccurate had merit.
They approved Planning and Building’s 39-weel demolition and eviction plan.
Garth said, ‘if it makes the government happy, I’ll do it’ in response to the county asking him if he’d be willing to clean up Yee Haw.