Marin communities push back on recommendation in affordable housing report
MARIN COUNTY – The cities and towns of Fairfax, San Rafael, Ross, and Larkspur in Marin County will be submitting their responses to a civil grand jury report released in June entitled, "Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in Marin."
The jury penned a sharp rebuke of the county for rejecting a previous affordable housing report a civil grand jury had submitted five years prior that made basically the same recommendation—a manager or entity should be tasked with expediting and coordinating the county's move toward more housing for low to median income earners.
Not only has Marin's affordable housing situation not improved, according to the civil grand jury, but a law that went into effect in 2018 -- Senate Bill 35 -- states that if a local government does not meet increased affordable housing thresholds mandated by the state, then a city, town or county loses local control over the process and the state can greenlight new developments without their approval.
"The task ahead for the county and municipalities of Marin is to build more affordable housing while retaining local control," the jury's report reads. "Achieving these goals will require increased countywide cooperation at the highest levels of government."
Marin County doesn't just have a housing issue, it has a workforce issue as well, the jury said. Many low to median income workers in the county cannot afford to live there, which has also impacted hiring. Only about 45 percent of Marin County government employees live in the county, the jury said, and less than 25 percent of new county government hires do.
"Local governments are struggling to fill positions required to provide necessary public services," said the jury. "Businesses are also finding it difficult to attract workers in many sectors, ranging from retail to hospitality to building trades."
Municipalities in Marin were asked to respond to the report, and several cities and towns will be submitting their response within the month. Though most communities agree overall with the report's findings, they balked at the single recommendation made by the jury that a regional authority be created to oversee affordable housing by Dec. 31.
"This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or reasonable," said the town of Ross.
Fairfax, San Rafael, and Larkspur concurred.
Fairfax's response was a sentiment shared by the others: "Forming a Joint Powers Agreement with 12 jurisdictions would take a significant investment of time, funding and energy that would likely impair current housing efforts," said the town. "Doing so by Dec. 31 is not a realistic timeline, particularly given that each Marin jurisdiction is currently striving to meet statutory deadlines to submit their housing element by Jan. 31, 2023."
The Board of Supervisors, the cities of Mill Valley, Novato, Belvedere, and Sausalito are also asked to respond by Sept. 22, as are the towns of Corte Madera, San Anselmo and Tiburon.