Housing in Marin: Justice or Just Us?
Marin County is in a housing crisis. Almost 27,000 lower income Marin households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including over 2,000 seniors who live below the poverty line. Every day, almost 68,000 people commute from other counties to work here. More than 2/3rds of these workers earn less than $61,000 per year, far below the $98,000 annual salary that’s needed to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in Marin.
As of June 2015, average rents have jumped by 66% since 2005 to $2,456 per month. Based on housing affordability standards, a household would need to earn $8,187 per month or $98,240 per year to afford the average rental in Marin, and approximately $200,000 per year ($17,000/month) to afford the average purchase price of a single-family home. The median income for a two-person household in Marin is $81,500.
As a result, many older residents are house rich and cash poor; they can’t afford to leave. Our children can’t afford to stay, and only a few young families can afford to move in. Today, Marin is one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., and our population is the oldest in the region. We are the least ethnically diverse county in the Bay Area. We are becoming a gated community. None of this is coincidence, and it’s not all due to the blind hand of supply and demand.
Our housing market was and is shaped by local government decisions. Over the past 40 years, local government in Marin has restricted the growth of housing supply while increasing the demand with policies that grew thousands of low wage retail and service jobs.
Decisions by Marin County and its cites and towns have directly resulted in hardships for many and the virtual exclusion of whole classes of people. Obviously, we can not solve the entire housing problem, but there is much we can do to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Our housing crisis poses a fundamental moral question: is Marin for just us or justice?
MEHC supports environmentally friendly affordable housing that –
- respects the integrity of its site and the surroundings;
- is appropriately located in existing communities, within walking distance of transit, public services, and retail shopping;
- is designed to respect neighboring buildings and the community at large in terms of scale, aesthetics, and impacts;
- is “green” and designed for sustainability including minimizing energy use, conserving and protecting water, and using environmentally preferable products.
- allows seniors to stay here and working families to live near their jobs.
Marin’s native beauty and its location in the region will always be major drivers in our housing market. But our sense of justice should say that we must provide housing opportunity when and where we can. This is why MEHC stands for environmentally friendly affordable housing.
Where Affordable Housing Is Scarce, So Are Teachers
To get people to teach in expensive or rural areas, some school districts are offering to help pay their rent or mortgage.
From New York to Los Angeles, with stops in between, school districts are confronting teacher shortages. As South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard said in his recent State of the State address: “The quality of education suffers when the schools cannot be selective and have to hire from a limited pool.”
Affordable housing: A tool to fight smog, traffic
We generally think it a big success when public policy successfully fixes a serious problem.
Right now, smart California policies are effectively tackling three major issues at once: housing, traffic, and climate change.