Magali Garcia and Christian Escobedo, both raised and employed in Calistoga, moved to Napa in 2020.
Not by choice, but by necessity.
The young married couple with children aspired to become homeowners. But as they looked for a modestly-priced home in the city where they lived and worked, their dreams quickly faded.
Garcia, 29, and Escobedo, who met while working at luxury spa and resort Indian Springs Calistoga, fell in love and started a family, hoping to remain in their hometown.
The housing market ultimately forced them out.
Faced with limited housing options, competing with cash bidders, rapidly inflating prices and the influx of vacation home buyers from outside the area, they found they could not compete in the Calistoga market.
“Growing up in Calistoga you envision your life being there,” Escobedo said. “You love the community; you love the town, but then you reach a point where, realistically, it's almost impossible to own a home in Calistoga unless you are making considerable amounts of money, and at the same time you are getting outbid by people who have the cash on hand.”
The median list price for a typical two-bedroom, two-bath home in Calistoga exceeds $1 million according to the latest Zillow data.
Homeownership rates among Latino families in Calistoga are just 17 percent, compared to 67 percent among whites in Calistoga, according to the Housing Element report released last year. The report also found that Latino residents are also the most isolated racial group in the city, with some, like Garcia and Escobedo, opting to move out to pursue homeownership.
“There was a limited supply of houses that were in the middle-income range for us,” Garcia said. With a housing budget of $600,000, “No offers were accepted in Calistoga and there weren’t a lot of houses we could apply to because of price ranges.”
The current housing market in Calistoga, according to the report, falls short of meeting the demand for more affordable housing, forcing an increasing number of families to look elsewhere.
Growing up in the ‘90s Garcia and her family lived in “a little town home” that was designated low-income housing. Her parents, four siblings, and grandparents lived together.
“We grew up in a multigenerational home where my mom took care of my grandparents,” she said.
Garcia remembers spending her childhood weekends at the Calistoga farmers market, selling chicken and sweet pineapple tamales with her mom. She continued doing so when she came home from San Diego State University during winter and summer breaks. Escobedo attended elementary, middle and high school in Calistoga.
Napa County’s northernmost municipality, however, isn't unique in the challenges it faces in providing enough homes to support its diverse workforce. According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, one of the state's foremost housing challenges is the lack of homes being built. Despite California’s projected need of 180,000 new homes annually, in the last decade, according to the HCD, the state has averaged just 80,000 new homes each year.
Known for its charming blend of state-of-the-art wineries and small-town atmosphere, Calistoga attracts tourists from around the world. Despite its appeal as a vacation destination, locals, particularly Latino residents who constitute more than half of the city’s workforce, are finding it increasingly difficult to live where they work.
Escobedo works as a wine tasting room assistant manager and remains the head soccer coach at his alma mater, Calistoga Junior-Senior High School. He commutes from Napa during the week to work and visit family.
“I’ve worked with people who commute from Davis and Sacramento. The city needs to at least acknowledge that affordable housing is beneficial to the community so people can contribute to the local economy,” Garcia said. “In the wine industry there are high and low seasons, locals living here contribute to the economic machine and help sustain it.”
In Calistoga, whites make up 57 percent of the population. Hispanic individuals comprise nearly 40 percent of the populations, while Asians account for a little more than 2 percent.
Homeownership rates vary widely by race and ethnicity in the Bay Area and nationwide, reflecting both income disparities and the lasting impact of historical policies that restricted access for communities of color to purchase homes, according to Calistoga’s Housing Element.
Housing Elements, long-term housing blueprints that municipalities submit to the state every eight years for approval, showcase plans to fulfill community and state market rate and affordable housing goals.
In Calistoga’s current Housing Element, the city lays out its plans to construct the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation of 119 new housing units, which include 31 units of very low-income housing, 19 units of low-income housing, 19 units of moderate-income housing and 50 above moderate-income units by 2031.
In the plan, which was approved by state regulators last fall after being rejected twice earlier in the year, the city complies with HCD’s recommended 30 percent “buffer,” bringing the proposed number of units to be built across all those income levels to 155 homes.
There has been a 4 percent decline in population in Calistoga since 2020, with the current population being 5,003, according to World Population Review.
Because of increasing housing prices, displacement is a major concern in the area and in surrounding counties. According to the Housing Element, displacement has the most severe impact on low- and moderate-income residents. When individuals or families are forced to leave their homes and communities, they also often lose access to their support networks.
“I had a strong sense of the local community in Calistoga,” Garcia said. “It's still our dream to purchase a home there, while building equity in our current home.”
Jenny Ocon, executive director of UpValley Family Centers says her team has seen families leave Calistoga for more affordable locations. “That has been an issue,” she said.
Ocon emphasized that the way the rules are set up makes it particularly challenging for farmworkers to secure housing.
“If people are not actively working as farmworkers and there is a season when there is no work – that impacts a level of qualification,” she said.
“One of the discussions I've had with people in Calistoga is that they believe there is enough low-income housing, but it's mostly in the form of apartments,” Garcia said. “While these apartments provide a place to live, they don't help families build wealth or break out of generational poverty.”
While Calistoga has struggled to build workforce and middle-income housing, unlike many cities in California, it has been effective in getting developers to build low-income housing.
The Tribune reported last June that between 2015 and 2019, nearly 40 percent of housing permits issued by the city were for low- or very low-income families. Additionally, the Lincoln Avenue Apartments, which were initially slated to open last November but are still under construction, are expected to open sometime this year and will provide 78 units of affordable housing.
Tribune editor Danielle Wilde contributed to this story.
