Bank donates Carinalli house to homeless agency

By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:59 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:59 p.m.


An aging, two-bedroom ranch house at the west edge of Santa Rosa, seized in foreclosure proceedings from bankrupt financier Clem Carinalli, will soon become a housing complex for people who have lost their homes.

The house, which sits on two acres and is valued at $290,000, was donated by Luther Burbank Savings to Community Housing Sonoma County, a nonprofit that has helped create 179 units of low-income housing since 2003.

The donation of the foreclosure property is unprecedented in Sonoma County and possibly nationwide, housing advocates and bankers involved in the deal said.

“For us, it's a godsend,” said Georgia Berland, executive director of the Sonoma County Task Force for the Homeless, who brokered the deal between the bank and the community housing organization.

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