Larkspur Homekey project helps community health

Marin Independent Journal, Letters to the Editor, February 9, 2022

Providing housing for people is an essential step to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The proposed Project Homekey site in Larkspur near MarinHealth Medical Center is an important part of this process. If purchased, this vacant skilled nursing facility will be renovated to provide housing to 43 individuals.

Homelessness in Marin and greater California was a public health crisis before COVID-19. More than 160,000 people in California — including at least 1,000 in Marin — are without a home, lacking the basic foundation to lead stable, healthy lives and participate meaningfully in their communities.

Homelessness creates many health threats to those experiencing it. Not only are homeless people at an elevated risk of being victimized by violence, they are exposed to risks of hypothermia, hyperthermia, malnutrition, mental illness and substance use disorders. The latter may be as much a symptom as a cause of being without housing. Any existing chronic disease is exacerbated. Shelters and group living put people at greater risk of getting, and spreading, infectious disease.

Cruelly, so many become homeless because of a health condition, putting the most vulnerable into a situation that can only worsen their physical and mental health.

Homekey is the right solution for Marin — the creative reuse of an existing site near transportation, health care and other services. Every community in Marin needs to be a part of the solution. Many already are, including Novato, Fairfax, San Rafael, Corte Madera, Sausalito and, indeed, downtown Larkspur.

As a member of the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative board, I can say that we support this project. We applaud the formation of an advisory board, which should include community members, to address community concerns. We encourage the Board of Supervisors to approve the 1251 South Eliseo Project Homekey site once Marin has received state funding.

— Shiraz Kaderali, San Rafael

Read the original letter here>>