Marin to prioritize struggling families for housing aid

Marin County will give preference to homeless or precariously housed families when spending $2.9 million in federal pandemic aid.

The American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law in 2021, appropriated $5 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Home Investment Partnerships Program. The program provides yearly grants to cities and counties and low-interest loans to developers to create and retain affordable housing.

The amount of grant money received is determined by a formula that takes into account the number of residences in a jurisdiction that are substandard or unaffordable, the age of a jurisdiction’s housing, and the number of families living below the poverty line in the jurisdiction.

Any jurisdiction that qualified for a grant in fiscal 2021 was eligible for the new round of American Rescue Plan funds.

Marin County has until September 2030 to spend the $2.9 million awarded, once the county develops an allocation plan and amends the previous plan, said Molly Kron, a planner at the Marin County Community Development Agency.

HUD mandates that the money be used to benefit one of four groups: homeless people; people who are at risk of homelessness; people fleeing domestic violence; or sexual assault; or families at risk of homelessness.

“The preferences identified in this plan include families experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness,” Kron said, “and families that are domestic survivors that are homeless or at risk of homelessness.”

The decision was made by the Marin’s Countywide Priority Setting Committee, which worked with nonprofits, the Marin Department of Health and Human Services and the Marin Housing Authority. The Priority Setting Committee has one representative from each of Marin’s cities and towns and seven representatives from “protected classes.”

While the number of homeless people in Marin increased by 8.4% from the 2019 “point in time” homeless count to the 2022 count, “the demographics of who are homeless are shifting. Family homelessness has grown by over 35%, which is unprecedented in Marin,” the allocation plan says.

The 2019 count reported families with a total of 147 members were homeless and 12% of them were unsheltered. The 2022 count reported families with 224 members were homeless in the county and 40.6% of them were unsheltered.

The allocation plan also stated that all substantial new affordable housing developments in the last four years have been for seniors and homeless people, and not available to families.

By comparison, the 2022 count identified 895 single adults who were homeless, 82.3% of whom were unsheltered. The 2022 count reported that 280 of Marin’s homeless were 60 or older and 80% of them were unsheltered.

“There is an increasing number of seniors with income streams and savings coming to an end who will be unable to keep up with rapidly rising rents,” the plan said.

In the past, the county has focused on a “housing first” model, which involves providing permanent supportive housing for those who have been chronically homeless for at least a year. Under HUD’s definition of chronic homelessness, the homeless person must also have a mental or physical disability.

Marin County has stated that it is in the process of a racial equity-centered redesign of its homeless system of care.

Kron said race was not discussed during the preparation of the allocation plan. She said, however, that it is well known that single and older adults who are homeless in Marin are more likely to be White, while homeless families are more likely to be people of color.

The county intends to combine the $2.9 million in American Rescue Act money with $1.1 million in state grant money, plus another $1.1 million from the county’s affordable housing fund, to incentivize the creation of 30 new dwellings that will be affordable to families earning between 30% and 50% of area median income.

For a family of four, that would mean the residences would have to be affordable to families earning between $55,920 and $93,200 annually.

“Can you explain the mechanics of that?” Supervisor Mary Sackett asked during a meeting on Jan. 10 in which the supervisors approved the plan.

Kron said housing developers would be paid to deed restrict a certain number of dwellings to ensure that level of affordability for 20 years. Kron said only nonprofit developers of affordable housing would be eligible for the funds.

Kron said families will receive priority on the waiting list for these new more affordable homes and the owners of the property will be required to “develop an affirmative marketing plan that will detail how they are doing outreach to these qualifying populations.”