Marin County
Housing Elements Update
The cities and towns of Marin County are in the process of updating the housing elements of their general plans. By California state law, every city and county has until June 2009 to update this part of their plan. Marin's housing elements will serve as the blueprint for how towns and cities provide places for all its residents—current and future—to live.
As housing elements are updated only about every seven years, this is a critical opportunity to shape the future of where homes are built in Marin County.
The update will offer a chance to address one of Marin's most serious environmental issues: its shortage of affordable housing. The lack of homes people can afford in Marin pushes development out onto open space and forces people to make long commutes, increasing traffic, air pollution, and water pollution.
Each city addresses housing elements independently; however, there are many programs and policies that are known to be effective. Among these best practices are:
- Inclusionary ordinances
- Jobs-housing and single family housing impact fees
- Pre-zoning and planning of specific sites coupled with streamlined approval processes
What's at Stake
Affordable housing is one of the prime environmental issues in Marin today. Because of a shortage of affordable housing, many workers must commute in every day from surrounding communities. This increases traffic, contributes to air and water pollution, and keeps people from spending more time with their families and neighbors. It also puts serious development pressure on unprotected greenbelt lands on the outskirts of the region.
The above policies have the potential to create much-needed homes for local workers and residents. For instance, rezoning and streamlining the approval process for a considerable amount of land within cities that is now zoned commercial would allow for a mix of residential and commercial development. This would provide the homes Marin needs, and would also help to meet the need for housing driven by the creation of new jobs in the commercial space.
As the housing element update process moves forward, it is important to make sure these policies are drafted and implemented in a way that will be effective, creating as many homes as possible that are affordable to the families who truly need them.
The deadline for cities to submit housing elements to California’s Department of Housing Community Development is June 30, 2009. Many cities are already beginning the process of analyzing their housing needs, drafting new programs, and preparing inventories of potential sites to accommodate the needs of Marin County’s current and future residents.
What You Can Do
- Write a letter to your City Council members in support of increased opportunities for the development of homes affordable to everyone who works in Marin.
- Write a letter to the editor (250 words max) of the Marin Independent Journal to call for effective policies that encourage affordable housing in Marin.
- To get involved with our campaign to promote affordable housing in Marin County, contact Greenbelt Alliance at (707) 575-4275 or by email.
|
