Six Families Living in Condemned Housing Get Eviction Reprieve : Apartments: County officials say they will seek criminal citations against the landlord. Tenants could still be forced to move this week.

Six farm-worker families got a temporary reprieve Tuesday when county officials announced that they would postpone evictions at a dilapidated apartment house outside Santa Paula and seek criminal citations against the landlord instead.

The action came at the end of a 45-day eviction process that had threatened to force the poor families out of the Telegraph Road apartments near California 126 and onto the streets by midnight Monday.

Several citations stemming from violations of the Ventura County Ordinance Code--which carry fines up to $1,000 each and a sentence of up to six months in jail--could be issued to the owner of the apartments, said Frank O. Sieh, county litigation supervisor.

“People who persistently maintain substandard housing present a serious problem for the county,” Sieh said. “I anticipate that citations will be issued against the owner this week.”

Sieh said he did not know when the evictions would take place, but it could be later this week. Still, residents were pleased for any reprieve.

“I’m real happy about it,” said 18-year-old Yesenia Bautista. “They said it would give us a few more days to find a place.”

A complaint from a neighboring rancher earlier this summer led investigators to discover dangerous electrical wiring conditions and unsanitary plumbing inside the 65-year-old apartment house, officials said. Some of the tenants had been living in the apartments for more than 15 years.

The converted motel building was condemned in July, and its tenants were given 30 days to move.

When some of the families said they could not find housing in that time, the county gave them a two-week extension.

Evictions were to take place beginning at midnight Monday, but county officials decided to hold off after a review of the case.

“We are waiting for a clear delineation of the violations present,” Sieh said.

John Davalos, a San Jose-area resident, said he has tried to “provide a quality life for the people” since he began managing the apartments after his father’s death 10 years ago.

His 83-year-old mother, Alice Davalos, owns the property.

Davalos said that despite income from the apartments of $1,950 a month, he could not afford to repair them.

Tenants said Davalos has raised their rent by $100 a month since 1988.

County building officials said illegal living conditions were first discovered at the apartments in 1989.

However, a series of warnings did not persuade Davalos to bring the buildings up to code, said county building official William Windroth.

At the old motel, the rooms have bare electrical wires and overloaded circuits that could start a fire, officials said.

“I thought things were OK,” said the owner’s son. “They should have moved if they didn’t like it.”

Davalos could be cited for the violations or the case could be handed to the district attorney’s office, Sieh said.

Meanwhile, the 28 people living in the apartments will have a temporary solution to their troubles.

“But housing is still the biggest problem in the county for poor people,” said Marco Antonio Abarca, a Latino rights attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance in Oxnard.

“And the middle-class housing stock will become run-down as more people move in,” he said.