Grand Jury

MARINCOUNTYCIVILGRANDJURYFINALREPORTSUMMARIES 3 MARINCOUNTYCIVILGRANDJURY 2016-2017 • OCTOBER2017 OVERCOMING BARRIERSTO HOUSING AFFORDABILITY Marinisanexpensiveplace to live, not only for low-income residents but also the average wage earner. is report offers solutions to improve housing affordability for all households. e residents of Marin experience the results of the high cost of housing in many ways, including the fact that our road- ways are congested with the cars of commuters, the financial strain that high housing costs put on low and moderate income households, problems caused by homeless living on the streets, and the likelihood that our children will have to leave the county to find someplace where they can afford a home. e Grand Jury researched how communities (both inside and outside of Marin County) have addressed key problems of housing affordability that could be applied throughout Marin: ■ Communityresistance forms a barrier to virtually any new development in Marin. Vocal opposition serves to constrain the actions of civic leadership. Attempts to satisfy the needs of the developer and the needs of the community simultaneously are o en ineffective. We highlight several examples where proactive involvement of the community with planners and developers has been successful in creating projects that are win-wins. We suggest that efforts to create early discussions between these parties will help to overcome this barrier. ■ It is expensive to build in Marin. e high cost of land and con- struction form a formidable bar- rier to affordability, particularly in the case of low-income affordable housing. No one solution will completely overcome this barrier, but a creative approach to address some construction fees will make Marin more attractive for devel- opment. ■ Developers cite the planning process in Marin as a clear bar- rier to progress. Regulatory delay becomes burdensome when developing low-income affordable housing. We suggest that models exist where successful early coop- eration between developers, and planners, and neighborhoods has made the planning process more efficient. ese models could easily be adopted across Marin's communities. ■ While housing affordability is a countywide problem, each of the 11 towns and cities of Marin and the County have their own approach to the problem. Municipalities should coordinate available resources to develop low-income affordable housing that would benefit all of the citi- zens of Marin. is effort would be best coordinated through a central Housing Coordinator. A problem as complicated as hous- ing affordability is not easily solved and it will not be solved overnight. However, our research suggests that it should be possible to make incre- mental changes that will overcome some of the barriers to affordability. ese changes form the recommen- dations made in this report. 2016-2017 MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT SUMMARIES Video Podcast: https://goo.gl/iKv37i RECOMMENDATIONS R1. Each planning department should begin regularly scheduled meetings at which developers can speak, early in the process, with all relevant members of staff to discuss impacts of proposed de- velopment and potential solutions to problems. R2. Each planning department should develop a proactive com- munity outreach strategy for any project that might be considered potentially controversial (includ- ing going beyond legal noticing minimums and initiating out- reach efforts as early as possible in the development cycle). R3. Each planning department should use succinct "plain-speak" to convey issues in their outreach. R4. Each school district should investigate building teacher and staff workforce housing on their land. R5. Each utility district should adopt waivers for hook-up fees for low-income housing projects and accessory dwelling units. R6. Each jurisdiction should adopt procedures so that low- income housing projects are fast- tracked through the planning and permitting process. R7. e County should create and fund the position of Regional Housing Coordinator. e Coor- dinator's responsibilities should include: working with funding sources and developers, identi- fying underutilized properties, working with jurisdictions to create specific plans, and creating a County-wide Civic mediation program for all civic project com- munity dialogues.

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