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Community Housing Priorities

Community Development Agency
Homeward Bound of Marin's Novato Veteran and Workforce Housing project is under construction and will provide permanent supportive housing for households exiting homelessness.

A Regional Housing Challenge

The Bay Area’s housing challenge continues to impact our community. Many households, including workers and families, are not able to afford to stay in their homes. There are a number of factors contributing to this challenge, including:

  • Land use rules that make building housing more difficult and expensive
  • A shortage of affordable housing stock
  • Income and wages that are not keeping up with the cost of housing

Our lack of affordable housing continues to be cited as the community’s most pressing issue. Our 2023 community survey showed that housing availability and affordability remain among the highest priority among residents.

The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA)

BAHFA was created in 2019 as a regional entity to help solve the affordable housing shortage in the nine Bay Area counties. It is the first regional housing finance authority in California.

Their purpose is to raise, administer and allocate funding and provide technical assistance to address regional issues of:

  • Affordable housing production
  • Affordable housing preservation
  • Tenant protections

These are commonly referred to as the “3Ps”.

BAHFA works together with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).

BAHFA November 2024 Affordable Housing Bond Measure

BAHFA is considering a regional $10-20 billion bond measure for the November 2024 ballot to invest in building and preserving affordable homes. If approved by voters, Marin County would receive a share of approximately $330 million which would support work towards the 3 “Ps”: production, preservation and protection. Learn more about the bond measure on MTC’s webpage.

What Are Our Priorities?

If voters approve this regional bond, Marin’s portion of funds would be directly administered by the Board of Supervisors. By early 2025, we will need to prepare and adopt a Plan of how we plan to use these funds.

To help inform this Plan, we are going to be holding a series of community workshops in 2024. Sign-up for updates to learn about the latest news and stay engaged.

Meetings and Workshops

November 28, 2023, Board of Supervisors meeting: Introduction about BAHFA and the 2024 Regional Affordable Housing Bond (Board Packet, Presentation).

April 2, 2024, Board of Supervisors meeting: Presentation of a work plan to develop a Local Expenditure Plan for Marin County in anticipation of regional housing bond funding (Board Packet, Presentation).