ON THE COVER
Homes in Trinidad. Photo by Mark Larson
Cold Comfort
Humboldt real estate rises amid COVID, climate change By Elaine Weinreb
“I’d never come here before ... I found Trinidad on a map — and here I am.”
newsroom@northcoastjournal.com
H
umboldt County hasn’t always been well known to the rest of the state, with many Californians placing the northern border somewhere near San Francisco, long unaware one could drive six hours past “the City” and still be south of Oregon. But things are different now. The Redwood Curtain has been lifted. Trinidad has always been a tourist town but longtime residents will tell you this year has been unlike others in the past. Despite COVID-19, the streets of the tiny village were crowded with strangers and the big parking lot next to Trinidad State Beach was packed day in and day out. License plates were from Utah, Texas, Arizona and other hot, dry states. Long lines formed for take-out service at the town’s restaurants. While the tourists are usually gone by Labor Day, the season continued well into October this year. A few said that
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they were fleeing the fires and looking for permanent housing. Many more said they were escaping the smoke that has blanketed the entire West Coast. Though there were smoky days here, it just didn’t seem as bad as where they came from. But the most common comment was that it was cool. They were not referring to lifestyles. They were referring to temperature. While 78 degrees might be a record-breaker for the foggy coastal town of Trinidad, it was not 110. Wildfires — and the hot, dry conditions that drive them — are the most visible symptom of climate change. Scientists warn more rather than fewer of them are likely as the global temperature inexorably climbs upward. But the change is not evenly distributed and the increase of even one degree can make a great deal of difference in local climate, says National Weather Service
NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020 • northcoastjournal.com
warning coordination meteorologist Ryan Aylward. In coastal Humboldt, according to graphs furnished by Aylward, the average temperature has increased by two degrees Fahrenheit over the past 30 years. In comparison, Ukiah, some 150 miles to the southeast, has increased by three degrees, making a town that was always hot in the summer now unbearable to many. Realtors are well aware that Humboldt’s coastline has suddenly become attractive as a climate refuge to both Californians and residents of other states. “I’d never come here before,” one house hunter said. “I found Trinidad on a map — and here I am.” Others have come here before for vacations and decided it might be a good place to settle in — especially if their jobs enable them to work remotely, something many are doing in the COVID age. And, as restaurants, small shops and
entertainment venues began closing, the attraction of large cities — with the crowds and higher rates of COVID — is losing its luster for some. Statistics kept by the California Association of Realtors show that home sale prices in the Bay Area and Southern California have started to drop as people emigrate to less crowded areas. And, not surprisingly, housing prices have risen in the coastal areas of Humboldt County. “Real estate follows the laws of supply and demand,” local Realtor Patti Stearns said. “The supply is limited; the demand is high; so the prices go up.” Stearns, who notes 60 percent of her new buyers are from outside Humboldt, estimates the price of a two-bedroom house in Arcata as $350,000 and one in Eureka as $300,000. Prices, however, can go a lot higher. “When people come here from other areas, they are initially surprised by the
