Watsonville Mayor: lack of housing helped lead to girl's death

By: Associated Press - | Friday, January 26, 2007 7:56 PM PST ∞

WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- Mayor Manuel Bersamin said a lack of affordable housing helped lead to a fire in an illegally converted garage that killed a 7-year-old girl.

Families in Watsonville have had to "double, triple and quadruple up, creating unsafe conditions," said Bersamin as he visited the burned-out garage and looked over charred mattresses, children's furniture and propane tanks.

Seventeen people lived in the house and garage that went up in flames Wednesday morning, killing 7-year-old Imelda Rendon.

Rendon, who lived in the garage with her brother, father and eight-months-pregnant mother, had stayed home sick from school, authorities said. Her body was found just two feet from a door.

Investigators said a small electrical heater too close to clothes or bedding likely caused the blaze.

The city had asked the owner of the burned home to tear down an illegal garage-to-home conversion less than two years earlier.

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