Coronavirus home construction ban leaves Pasco couple in limbo — with baby on the way

Karina Sanguino was looking forward to her baby shower Easter weekend.

The soon-to-be Pasco mom imagined being surrounded by family celebrating the coming birth of her first child.

Instead, she is wondering if her son will have a place to call home when he’s born.

The 31-year-old Pasco High counselor and her husband, Alejandro, were looking forward to moving into their newly built Kennewick house at the beginning of May and setting up the nursery in time for a June birth.

Residential construction halted March 25 in Washington state in response to the coronavirus pandemic — a month before the Sanguinos’ new house was finished.

In less than a month, they must move out of their current home because they sold it.

“I really feel a lot of anxiety and stress of the unknown,” Karina told the Tri-City Herald.

“The uncertainty of having a house or not, adds to the stress,” said Alejandro, 44, an engineer with the state Department of Transportation. “I’m missing the part of being excited of having a baby because I’m stressed out about everything and missing out on the experience.”

The couple has joined statewide efforts to push Gov. Jay Inslee to lift the ban on residential construction.

“This is one of many stories that are happening in the Tri-Cities and across the region as a result of the order,” said Jeff Losey, executive director of the Homebuilders Association of the Tri-Cities.

His office has received many calls about similar problems. He says not all are young couples, but also older homeowners trying to downsize. Regardless, he told the Herald, the situations are heartbreaking.

Stay home order

When Inslee issued his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy’ order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he included commercial and residential construction as non-essential jobs.

However, work is allowed to continue on public projects, such as schools, the Duportail Bridge in Richland and low-income public housing could continue.

Tri-Cities home builders have been urging Inslee for a couple of weeks to ease the restrictions.

Losey said it is entirely feasible for home construction workers to meet social distancing guidelines, noting that is what’s being done in Oregon.

“Oregon is one of the models of where it’s been done,” Losey had told the Herald. “If construction in Oregon has been allowed from day one of Oregon’s stay home, it makes sense to us that the same opportunity should be allowed in Washington.”

Earlier this month, the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities also sent a letter to the governor asking that home building be deemed essential — joining the Building Industry Association of Washington which has done the same.

This week, the Benton County commissioners also wrote Inslee’s office asking for a change to the moratorium.

No place to go

But Sanguinos don’t have much time to wait before they work on a contingency plan.

Inslee did say said Wednesday during a news briefing that there may be an opportunity to resume commercial and residential construction before May 4 or shortly after.

Even if the ban was immediately lifted, the Sanguinos are facing a tight deadline before their move out date.

They tried to delay closing on their current home. However, the buyers are moving from Colorado — and also are expecting a baby — and hope to get settled too.

“We had a gap between closing of the sale of the house and the new house,” Alejandro said. “By then we would have had quite a bit of stuff for the baby and we could have ordered the rest.”

Instead, not only did the couple not have a baby shower and are scrambling to make essential purchases, but they are now grappling with where to live.

“All of our family is in Oregon, so that is not an option,” said Karina, who plans to deliver in the Tri-Cities.

A hotel may be their best option.

But that comes with its own complications. Instead of getting everything they eventually will need, Karina said they will have limited space and need to put everything in storage.

Plus, Alejandro says he and one nephew will need to do all the moving in order to limit the risk to relatives and themselves because making sure the baby stays healthy is his biggest worry.

“I have had control over exposure to the virus,” Karina said. “No one is coming over to my house. We are getting groceries delivered. We were not just having to move to another home, but move to hotel where there a lot of variables — Who was there before us? What are the risks? How long will we have to be there?”