Marin County needs affordable housing for its employees, and like some other jurisdictions around the Bay Area, the county is trying to build homes for its own workers and teachers.
This week the county Board of Supervisors is considering a request from the Marin Community Development Agency to reserve 34 homes for county employees by committing $10 million as guarantor for a new development. Over a hundred units will go to school district employees. San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties have also invested in housing for their educators.
The Oak Hill Workforce Housing Project is an affordable development that has been in the works for five years. It is planned for an unincorporated vacant property between San Quentin Village and the Larkspur Landing waterfront area. The project, as proposed, will include two residential communities to be built by nonprofit developers. They will share common infrastructure, sustainable design and drought-tolerant landscaping. Both will have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes.
The joint powers authority overseeing the project has started a guarantor financing program for local school districts and agencies. The project is facing a funding gap of $16.4 million primarily because of increased interest rates, and the county commitment would close $10 million of it.
The Novato and San Rafael school districts, College of Marin and the Marin County office of Education area are also considering participating in the guarantor program to make up the funding gap.
Affordable housing for those who qualify
According to the county staff report, the Oak Hill project has a goal of focusing on households earning 50% to 80% of the area median income. For example, for a family of three with a household income between $88,000 to $141,000, rents for a two-bedroom apartment could be between $1,836 to $2,938.
“To maintain a balanced budget, rents could be set at higher levels affordable to households between 80% and 120% of area median income if needed, which could make the units less attainable for lower-income public employees,” the report said.
One side of the Oak Hill campus will be specifically for educators, built by Education Housing Partners Inc. It will include 135 units of workforce rental housing for income-qualifying teachers, staff as well as county employees. Of those, 86 are for low and very low-income households.
The other side of the development will be built by Eden Housing and will include 115 units of affordable rental housing. Out of those, 95 are for low and very low-income households and 18 for extremely low-income households.
Almost two-thirds of Marin County workers commute from adjacent counties. In a recent County of Marin employee survey, 269 workers expressed interest in renting an affordable home at Oak Hill once construction is completed.
