Marin Housing Elements Annual Progress Report Update
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Marin Housing Elements Annual Progress Report Update

  We are woefully behind on progress toward our housing goals   Marin’s sixth 8-year Housing Element Cycle officially kicked off January 31, 2024. Every April, the county and each local city and town must publish an Annual Progress Report (APR) documenting progress toward achieving assigned housing goals (“RHNA,” or Regional Housing Needs Allocation). Marin, as a whole,…

Ramp for wheelchair users, picture included in MEHC Perspective
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Housing needs to be more accessible

Housing needs to be more accessible. Our communities deserve it. – Carmela Davis, Housing Specialist, MEHC   The housing crisis is dire for everyone, but especially so for people with a disability   Disability is the largest and most intersectional minority in the world. Did you know that an estimated 10% of Marin residents have a disability?…

Picture of ranch in West Marin
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West Marin faces major housing need

The Pt. Reyes Seashore settlement will cause loss of housing and employment for many farmworker families. – Agnes Cho, consultant and project manager,Community Land Trust of West Marin (CLAM) A West Marin community leader recently shared this comment with me: “In West Marin, finding housing is like winning a golden ticket.” Her offhand statement stuck with me, because…

Photo of California flag and state legislature building.
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Legal Update! New California Housing Laws in 2025

Written by Lucie Hollingsworth and Ethan Strull. Welcome back, all of you Marin housing policy wonks! While you were all paying more attention to the presidential race, state propositions, and our local tenant protections, our state legislators were dutifully busy pushing laws through to chip away at making California a more affordable and just place….

MEHC board members waving at earth day 2024 in Mill Valley
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MEHC’s most impactful year ever!

We give thanks to all who’ve advocated for more affordable, environmentally-sound and socially-just housing. MEHC’s capacity expanded this year, and we’ve been working hard for housing. Marin approved more housing this year than it has in decades! MEHC’s support helped advance projects Many projects we support have moved closer to development, including: MEHC’s advocacy connected with the…

2024 Friendraiser at Homeward Bound. Tour of new Veteran's Housing. Includes Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, Homeward Bound co-CEOs Paul Fordham and Mary Kay Sweeney,
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Election results and Friendraiser recap

THE ELECTION RESULTS MAKE FIXING OUR HOUSING CRISIS MORE DIFFICULT, BUT THAT WON’T STOP US. A word from Jenny Silva, MEHC’s Board Chair I, like many of my friends and family, am grappling with the implications of the election. The impact is extremely broad, but today, I’ll focus on the election’s impact on housing. This was a…

Teachers protesting for more affordable housing
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Quality schools need affordable housing options for teachers and staff

  The cost of housing is turning away both teachers and students.   While many people may think that “affordable housing” only applies to those with extremely low incomes, Marin housing prices are so high that many college graduates, even with advanced degrees, cannot afford even a studio apartment. This includes many of our teachers and…

Person casting their ballot
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Prop 5 Is Needed in Marin — Vote YES

VOTE YES ON PROP 5 TO HELP MARIN BUILD AFFORDABLE HOMES The housing crisis has left California in dire straits. Due to decades of chronic underbuilding, sky-high rents now leave us with the unsavory distinction of holding the single highest functional poverty rate of the 50 states. That means even many working families – though lucky enough to keep…

Ballot Measures graphic
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Tenant Protection Measures in Marin

Marin’s housing shortage continues to inflict severe hardships on families and local workers struggling to maintain their access to schools, jobs, and other important resources.  Behind statistics describing the long-standing housing crisis for Bay Area renters are their stories about painful damage inflicted by our regional shortage of affordable housing: Despite some signs the rental market…

Housing and Environment: It’s not either/or
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Housing and Environment: It’s not either/or

Marin’s history of environmental protection is our defining pride. Yet our development practices are fundamentally anti-environmental. Our history of environmental protection is Marin County’s defining pride. Outside narrow strips along Highways 1 and 101, rolling green hills rise and fall, mostly undisturbed by development, before meeting the brooding beauty of miles of untouched coastline. Compare this image with…