Policy: Proposition 5
Prop 5 will enable us to address Marin’s most pressing issues:
- We need affordable housing: Since 2010, rents have increased by about 50% in Marin, and as a result, almost 40% of our households do not earn enough to make ends meet. Yet a lack of funding is a key barrier to building and preserving affordable homes. Prop 5 will make it easier to pass affordable housing bonds, such as the one currently planned for the 2026 election.
- Our infrastructure is aging and unsafe: Marin’s public infrastructure, such as our roads, fire stations, and sewage systems, is aging rapidly, and we’re not investing enough in their maintenance. The American Society of Civil Engineers found that California has the 2nd worst road quality in the nation, and almost 70% of our major roads are in mediocre or poor condition. Furthermore, as climate change increases the risk of wildfires and flooding in Marin, we need reliable infrastructure to protect our communities.
Most voters want to address these issues, but we need funding to do so.
- The state and federal governments aren’t offering us enough financial assistance: In Marin alone, state and federal funding for housing production and preservation was just $38 million in 2023, 54% less than the year prior.
- Prop 5 empowers local voters to approve bonds for affordable housing, critical public infrastructure, and emergency response in our communities with a 55% vote – if those bonds have strict accountability and oversight.
- Passing affordable housing bonds is so difficult that they’re rarely placed on the ballot: Over the past two decades, not a single regional or local affordable housing bond was placed on the ballot anywhere in Marin County.
Proposition 5 empowers voters and taxpayers to address our local affordable housing and infrastructure needs without having to rely on the state:
- Prop has precedent: Prop 5 is based on 2000’s Prop 39, which created the 55% threshold for school bonds. What works for schools can work for housing.
- Prop 5 protects local communities: Prop 5 requires all local housing and infrastructure bond funds to be spent locally to benefit only the cities and counties that approve the bonds – not other communities. And Prop 5 limits bonded indebtedness for local jurisdictions, providing another layer of protection for taxpayers.
- Prop 5 does not raise taxes: It simply gives local voters and taxpayers more authority to address their local affordable housing and infrastructure needs on their terms without having to rely on the state.
- A wide coalition of supporters endorses Proposition 5: Endorsers for Prop 5 include the California Democratic Party, the California Professional Firefighters, Habitat for Humanity, the Middle-Class Taxpayer Association, and the California Federation of Teachers. Even the Association of Realtors, a historically fiscally conservative group, decided Prop 5 was not something they wanted to in any way oppose.
