More than a dozen senior citizens living at the Palm Motel in Delano were told they had to be out by Saturday, November 7, after the city red-tagged and condemned the High Street property over black mold, a pest infestation, and a lack of working electricity. The shutdown has left residents on fixed incomes scrambling to figure out where they will sleep next, even as the city scrambles to help.
The City of Delano condemned the motel on October 27, according to 23ABC News Bakersfield, which reported that the property is home to over a dozen senior citizens now facing homelessness after the red tag went up. Without electricity, residents cannot cook or run appliances to stay warm, and tenants with asthma cannot plug in their nebulizers, the station reported.
Delano City Council member Mario Nunez described the scope of the damage, saying multiple roof areas are falling in, ceilings have fallen through, wiring and plumbing are exposed, and mold is present throughout the building, per the station's report. Power to the property was shut off following an inspection that turned up the pest infestation and electrical problems, leaving residents without lights or heat in the days since.
Residents Describe Conditions Inside Their Rooms
Palm Motel tenant Angela Ruiz told the outlet she dealt with plumbing problems in Room 9 and a cockroach problem even after she was moved to a different unit. Tenant Rafael Boras said residents have nowhere to move and don't have enough income for another place, the same account noted.
That concern tracks with broader data on older adults in the region. A snapshot from justiceinaging.org found that 35% of adults 65 and older in Kern County don't have enough income to meet their basic needs, and that a single older adult renter in the county needs at least $20,796 a year just to cover essentials, according to the justiceinaging.org report.
City Opens Senior Center, Finds Housing for Some
In the meantime, the city opened its senior center late at night so Palm Motel residents could charge their phones and watch television, and it has been providing snacks and coffee there, the station's report said. Local businesses have also donated dinners or lunches for residents displaced by the closure.
The city has found housing for roughly 11 seniors so far and may tap general-fund money to help cover relocation costs, per the city's account relayed by the station. It isn't clear from available reporting how many more residents still need placements or what options remain for those not yet housed.
City and Landlord Dispute Communication Efforts
City officials reported that attempts to meet with the Palm Motel's owner were unsuccessful. Tierra del Sol LLC disputed that account, saying it has documentation showing communication with the city — a disagreement the station's report presented without resolving. The City of Delano has also started the process of taking legal action against the current landlord, according to the same report.
California law addresses relocation in cases like this: the state's AB-1858 bill text says tenants displaced by a local enforcement agency's order to vacate, because of violations endangering residents' immediate health and safety, are entitled to relocation benefits, with the agency determining eligibility, according to leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. A related code excerpt says that relocation payment is to equal two months of the fair-market rent for the area as determined by HUD, per leginfo.legislature.ca.gov's code text, though that excerpt alone doesn't establish how, or whether, it applies to Palm Motel tenants.
Part of a Wider Countywide Homelessness Trend
The Palm Motel's closure lands amid a broader rise in homelessness across the county. Kern County's 2026 Point-in-Time count found 2,690 people experiencing homelessness, a 3.2% increase from 2025, with about 54% of them living unsheltered, according to bakersfieldnow.com. The county's 2025 count had put the total at 2,606, down 2.3% from 2,669 the year before, and counted 173 people age 65 or older — 7% of the homeless population — per the bkrhc.org report. Delano's own unsheltered count rose to 91 people in 2025, up from 86 the year before, the same report found.
