She sat on the curb in front of her small motel room on Moffat Boulevard Wednesday afternoon as she waited for hot water for the first time in more than a week.

A trio of the large white cylinders responsible for making showers comfortable sat next to a dumpster in the parking lot. The sound of hammering could be heard from the roof of the building, and with the exception of a few voices coming from the around the corner, the only thing carrying was the wind and an occasional piece of trash that was blown up by traffic passing by. 

No, the scene at The Inn By The Station wasn’t nearly as frantic Wednesday afternoon as it was on Monday when residents in the 21-unit motel – where residents are supposedly only staying for up to 30 days – were given an immediate evacuation notice after city officials determined that the number of health and safety violations exceeded what would considered allowable for living conditions. 

But as long as work continues on the building and it meets the expectations of city inspectors, who will revisit the property next week, the residents – some of whom, according to the woman, have been living there longer than a year – will be able to stay. If next week the progress isn’t satisfactory, city officials said the 10-day mandatory eviction notice will go into effect.

On Wednesday a representative from California Rural Legal Assistance met the residents and then the city, and an agreement to let them stay conditionally was hatched as long as some of the most egregious conditions were addressed – items like exposed wires, missing wall heaters and rooms that were converted into apartments without the proper permits. 

But with new ownership, some residents are wondering how the motel – which was previously known as The Rose Motel – passed an inspection in the condition it was in if it was sold just months ago. 

“I heard from some of the guys doing work upstairs that they found notices on the wall that this place was sold in November, and there’s no way that this place fell apart that fast,” one resident said. “Something slipped by – something went uninspected or somebody got paid off or something, because it’s just not possible.”

The matter, however, has actually united some of the residents and turned them into a small community. 

At Wednesday morning’s legal meeting in Stockton, one resident said that there upwards of 25 people in attendance. There are only 21 units at the motel, and people without vehicles carpooled or hitched rides with friends to make sure that they had a chance to have their voices heard. 

Slipping through the cracks, said one resident, is something that has happened all too often and there’s no place for most of them to go. 

“When they came they brought us pamphlets that had all of this information on it about where we could go and that was great but the problem is that a lot of that wasn’t relevant,” she said. “The places that were relevant couldn’t help because they were maxed out. It like we were going to be on the street overnight. I have food but it’s inside and I have no way to cook it. Now it’s just a wait and see game.”