The boundary defining who is considered unhoused and who is treated as a criminal was clarified during a public meeting in San Rafael on a contentious interim housing project.
This fall, 65 tiny cabins are going to arrive at an empty parking lot along Merrydale Road and plug in for a few years. Officials from the city and Marin County met with Terra Linda residents this past Wednesday at Venetia Valley School to field questions and gather suggestions for how the program will work.
The cabins are the next step in a long effort to assist an unhoused population that settled downtown in the post-COVID years. For a year, unhoused residents have lived under 50 blue canopies in a city-sanctioned camp on Mahon Creek Path. That’s a step-up from the creek shore, where they huddled before.
The vast majority of the 53 residents there were born in Marin County. In the sanctioned camp behind a fence, they receive mail and phone calls. They meet with case managers. They pass in and out through a guarded fence to walk their dogs, go to work and go shopping.
“Drugs and alcohol are not allowed in the common areas,” said San Rafael’s mental health liaison Lynn Murphy, describing the respectful culture behind the fence. “What people do in their tents is private. They have their own space. They have a way to cook their food. It’s so quiet. I walk through there, I’m like ‘where’s everybody?’”
Murphy said a good percentage of the residents are taking advantage of counseling. Groups have formed for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
“We’ve got a really tight network of supporters who have befriended a lot of the people in the sanctioned camping area, who have now been sober for the duration of their stay,” Murphy said.
Creating an atmosphere of security
She explained how creating an atmosphere of security is crucial for healing from the trauma of homelessness.
“People aren’t worrying about their stuff being taken while they go to a doctor’s appointment, or being assaulted in the middle of the night, because they have security on site 24/7,” she said.
The residents who gathered at the school Wednesday were mostly older people who live in middle-class homes behind a wooden fence along Merrydale Road. Across from the fence is a row of multifamily buildings with mostly Hispanic residents. The road dead-ends at the parking lot that will become the future tiny cabin village. Beyond the road is a grass footpath that leads around a Public Storage business to the Marin Civic Center SMART train station.
At the meeting, city and county officials shared updates and slides. They took questions.
“How are people who are dependent on drugs and alcohol getting their continual supply?” asked neighbor Susan Coleman. “Are they provided that on site, or are they going to be dependent on visitors coming to bring in those things?”
“You’re saying that the participants are not able to loiter and that they will be shooed away,” said Kim Wik. “What about those that come see what’s going on? Who’s going to shoo them away? There’s loitering going on already, and I feel unsafe in my home.”
According to the U.S. Census, about 32% of the residents in the Merrydale Road area are 65 or older, a growing segment of Marin County’s population. It can be an anxious time in life with worry about financial stress, illness, loss of control and change.
“I’m sorry that you don’t feel safe,” said San Rafael’s assistant city manager John Stefanski to Wik. “You worked hard. You want to live in San Rafael. You love this neighborhood. You want to be able to go to your house and just relax.”
Many of the neighbors were part of a movement to bring legal action against the project after first learning about it at an October news conference held in the site’s parking lot.
At that time, the city had distributed bilingual flyers to residents in the vicinity but had not yet arranged for public engagement and input. San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin accepted responsibility for the oversight. Funding the program was complex and time-consuming.
“You’re saying that the participants are not able to loiter and that they will be shooed away. What about those that come see what’s going on? Who’s going to shoo them away? There’s loitering going on already, and I feel unsafe in my home.”
Kim Wik, Merrydale Road resident
The total price tag for the interim project is about $12.5 million, according to San Rafael community services division director Daniel Cooperman. Under a multi-jurisdictional agreement, Marin County provided $8 million toward the purchase and program. The cabin site will close by June 30, 2029. The city has agreed to permit the site by 2028 for a new 80-unit permanent affordable housing development.
The city is still procuring the 65 cabins, which will come with heating and electricity. They range in size and cost from $15,000 to $30,000 each. Other utilities, like a kitchen and laundry, will be shared.
Up to 70 of the sanctioned camping residents who signed up before January 2024 will receive one of 65 private, lockable cabins. The downtown sanctioned camp will then close, and the Mahon path will return to its former use.
The residents’ new home on Merrydale Road will provide the same security and social services, but instead of living in the elements under plastic shelters, they will be indoors at last, in tiny cabins with heat and power and a door and key.
“A tiny home is a hot commodity,” said Murphy. “It is amazing how stable people get when they have a locked door in place.”
Cabin residents expected to be good neighbors
Meeting attendees reviewed the documents participants must sign in order to obtain a tiny cabin. It included a code of conduct for being inside the fenced community and a good neighbor policy with expectations for interactions with the surrounding neighborhood.
Both policies establish rules for a respectful, clean and safe environment, and protocols for removal if rules are broken. There is a designated smoking area, a lease mandate for non-aggressive pets, and rules for checking in and out. No visitors are permitted. No weapons or violent behavior are allowed.
“Drug use by these individuals is your problem, not ours,” said neighbor Greg Andrew. “It’s not private property, so they don’t get to exercise private property rights. To me, no drugs. Zero tolerance.”
“Let’s remember we are talking about a homeless population, not a criminal population,” said Lisa Warhuus, director of Marin County Health and Human Services.
She said just about all jurisdictions across the state of California utilize an approach called harm reduction — meeting people where they are, sober or not. After reducing immediate harm, support services provide stability while maintaining clear rules and accountability. Successful temporary tiny cabin projects have resolved homeless encampments in San Jose and Los Angeles.
To obtain one of the tiny cabins, residents must agree to rules requiring a respectful, clean and safe environment, and protocols for removal if rules are broken. No visitors are permitted. No weapons or violent behavior are allowed.
“We have a strong evidence-based practice around stabilization and getting people back on track so that they can live their best possible lives,” said Warhuus. “People often assume that harm reduction has no accountability, and people can do whatever they want. That is absolutely not the case.”
San Rafael Police Sgt. Rob Cleland said in an email that the Police Department’s Special Operations Unit, which specifically deals with the unhoused population, will spend more time at the tiny cabin site, indicating that the site could make the area more secure with more of a police presence in the area.
“We are going to move our ‘substation’ to 350 Merrydale, but we will not be assigned to that substation 24/7,” he said, adding that 911 is still the place to call for emergency threats to health and safety.
Around-the-clock operations will be managed 24/7 by the security company FS Global, and the contact is Max Morell-Foege at (415) 272-3224. The city’s community services division can be contacted via email or (415) 256-5565. For non-emergency concerns, the city plans to launch a reporting feature in March through SeeClickFix.com, the same online tool residents now use for opening a service ticket for potholes and other problems.