Santa Rosa man at center of Facebook rant moves into rebuilt home, apologizes to city

Chris Keys felt a surge of emotion Friday as he looked out at three blackened tree stumps in the backyard of his Santa Rosa home, a place where 30 redwoods once stood.

The Redwood Gospel Mission employee, who lost his home at the base of Fountaingrove in the October 2017 wildfires, was finally cleared to bring his family back into the house they rebuilt on Hidden Pine Court.

After city inspectors rejected repeated requests for a temporary occupancy permit to move into the almost-finished home, Keys vented his frustration Tuesday evening in a widely read Facebook post on Sonoma County Firestorm Update, an active online group with more than 75,000 members who share stories about wildfires, rebuilding and other aspects of local life.

“I felt suffocated. I felt like nobody was on my side, and I felt like I could do nothing,” said Keys, who feared he would have to move his family into an RV because his insurance-funded living expenses had expired.

The replies to his post, which he has since deleted, were overwhelmingly supportive, and a follow-up inspection by the city Wednesday gave Keys the result he was looking for. The family moved into their new home Friday.

“It’s almost like getting closure in a weird way, even though it’s a new beginning,” Keys said. “It’s exciting - way more than I even anticipated. I had to fight for every single thing that was out there that we thought was in place, like insurance and everything else. But here we are.”

Keys’ Facebook post, and a Press Democrat article noting his angst, prompted surprise and similar frustration from city officials, who say they’re bending over backward to help fire survivors rebuild and make that process as painless as possible. They pointed out missteps in the permitting process for Keys’ house and cited a recent inspection report that his driveway and steps leading up to the house were not fully built - a “life-safety issue” due to the need to have egress from the house, said Jesse Oswald, the city’s chief building official.

“We give everybody the benefit of the doubt,” Oswald said. “We’re trying to help everyone out.”

Keys acknowledged that the recently poured stairs and driveway were “a little wet” at the time of the inspection. He also acknowledged that he should have involved his contractor more when it came to scheduling inspections.

Keys now admits he could have handled the situation better and said he wanted to apologize to a city staffer with whom he left several angry voicemail messages; Oswald said the employee took time off work as a result.

“I feel bad, like I put people on the spot. It was never my intention,” Keys said. “I hit a breaking point and wanted to get my family in. When your back is against the wall, sometimes you do things that are out of character.”

Keys, who has been homeless before and now works as Redwood Gospel Mission’s director of shelter and recovery ministries, noted that he was thinking of his wife and two children when he called the city and vented on Facebook.

“Because this is my family, of course I’m going to make noise.” But he expressed regret about his tone on the voicemails: “I feel horrible about that.”

“Regardless of any of that, we’re doing exactly what we do for every single family,” Oswald said of the situation, “which is trying to get them back in their homes.”

Staff Writer Yousef Baig contributed to this report. ?You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.