Public Comment template for 4/15 Oak Hill meeting at College of Marin
Submit a Comment to the College of Marin
- Click this link for the comment submission form.
- This is agenda item #2
- Enter your comments. You can use or edit the talking points below.
I am writing to you today to urge your support for the Oak Hill project and the proposed Affordable Workforce Housing Guarantee financing plan.
The lack of affordable housing is hurting education in Marin. The College of Marin and our local School districts are struggling to hire and retain educators and staff due to our extremely high housing costs. The workforce housing project will provide 135 housing units for educators and county staff. Given the huge demand for housing, the convenient location, and projected rents 30% below market, this project is not likely to face significant vacancies.
The financing plans include significant risk mitigation for participating agencies, including the ability to sublet these units to another agency or even rent them to the general public if necessary. There are enormous benefits to this project. The Joint Powers Authority (JPA) has put in place a structure that provides significant risk mitigation for those involved. We believe these benefits far outweigh the theoretical risks. Participating in the program is significantly less risky than COM undertaking its own housing development.
Delaying this project to seek alternative forms of financing will be costly, and puts the project at risk. There is no other significant project in the pipeline targeted to our teachers and local government workforces. Let’s not miss this opportunity. I urge your support.