After months of delay, a massive renovation of Marin City’s Golden Gate Village public housing project has begun, and plans are underway to start interviewing some of the housing project’s own tenants for jobs on the site.
Residents from the first three buildings moved out last week. They will live in temporary apartments for about four months before returning to their renovated homes.
The renovation includes abatement, demolition, infrastructure construction, carpentry and finishing. When it is all over, tenants will return to refurbished apartments with new kitchens and bathrooms, new furniture, appliances, dishwashers and in-unit laundry machines. The price tag for the full renovation is $266.6 million, and it will be financed and conducted in two phases.
As before, the rent for tenants will be 30% of their income. All moving expenses and temporary housing costs are covered by nonprofit developer Burbank Housing, which has partnered with the Marin Housing Authority to do the renovation and manage the property.
“At the start of the job, it’s hard to put brand new people in, but there’s a lot of clean up, a lot to pick up,” said Juanita Douglas, executive director of Tradeswomen, Inc., a nonprofit that works to open career pathways in the building trades to women and underserved communities.
Last winter, Douglas’ organization ran a hands-on pre-apprenticeship construction trades course. Participants learned to use power tools, install drywall, perform plumbing work and understand electrical systems while also earning CPR training and a 10-Hour safety certification from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Beyond technical skills, the program emphasized financial literacy, physical and mental fitness, drug testing and job readiness.
The course was designed to prepare high school graduates of any age for union apprenticeships and jobs on major building projects, including the renovation of Golden Gate Village.
The 296-unit campus of 29 buildings was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. At the time it opened in 1961, it provided housing for Black workers who had moved to the area during World War II and were prevented from moving into neighboring communities by racially restrictive covenants.
Like so many mid-century public housing projects in the U.S., Golden Gate Village has suffered from a steady decrease in federal funding for its upkeep. There are moldy walls with holes, as well as rats. There are obsolete ventilation, water and electrical systems.
“We’re trying to use as many people from the community as we can,” said Riley Weissenborn, project director for Burbank Housing.
A five-year opportunity
On Sept. 15, there will be a virtual meeting with representatives from 40 subcontractors, who have all the graduates’ resumes and letters. Some of the companies, including the lead project contractor Nibbi Construction, will be present at a job fair Sept. 17 at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City.
According to Douglas, Nibbi Construction is already planning to hire one of the 21 graduates of the program, first as a laborer but eventually as a carpenter. Two others are being interviewed for labor positions with Janus, the subcontractor doing the demolition, but they will need some training for working with hazardous materials.
“This is a five-year job, so they’re going to need more than the people that they’re hiring,” said Douglas. Having a job site within walking distance solves the biggest issue for graduates of the pre-apprentice program — transportation, she said.
Douglas said the first pre-apprenticeship course was sponsored by Burbank Housing and the Marin Community Foundation. Her organization was recently awarded a $75,000 empowerment grant from the Marin Housing Authority to help cover the cost of a second course, but she will need to draw from it to cover union fees for some of the graduates.
“Burbank Housing has been extremely supportive,” Douglas said.
Although the project was delayed for months by permitting, many tenants are more than ready to move.
“I originally packed up in January, so I’ve been kind of living in a half-packed up house anyway,” said 19-year resident Kim Robinson, as she watched the movers load boxes onto a truck.
“They have been sweet,” she said. “I have some heavy stuff, and they were like just point your finger and we’ll pack it.”
