A $27,500 grant from the county’s Measure W fund will help West Marin’s four affordable housing organizations work out the details of forming a new collaborative. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved funding for the Bolinas Community Land Trust to hire a consultant who will help it hash out an agreement with the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, the San Geronimo Valley Affordable Housing Association and the Stinson Beach Affordable Housing Committee. The proposed group, known as West Marin Housing Collaborative, would make the existing organizations more efficient and effective, a county staff report said. Arianne Dar, the executive director of the Bolinas Community Land Trust, said the consultant will craft a statement that defines the work of the housing collaborative and how the group will carry out that work. The statement will define the vision, strategic goals, processes and workplans for collaborative decision-making. The groups need help figuring out how new ideas will be brought forth, how to equally benefit from funding, how to divide projects and how to reach agreements. “It’s very complicated,” Ms. Dar said. “We don’t want to be in competition, we don’t want to be stepping on each other. Creating the official agreement will help us get work done in an expeditious way that is hard if we go forward individually.” Ms. Dar said her organization requested the funds because of logistical constraints and challenges. The Stinson Beach committee is not a nonprofit and cannot receive grants, and CLAM is preoccupied with the development of 57 new housing units in Point Reyes Station. Discussions about creating a collaborative have taken place among the upper-level staff and board members of these organizations for years, Ms. Dar said. With the formation of a collaborative within reach, she anticipates that the outcomes could include more efficient communication with Marin County and a lot of time saved by sharing marketing plans, staff and programs. “We really want it to be fair for each group,” she said.
A previous version of this article misstated that the San Geronimo Valley Affordable Housing Association had no staff. In fact, the group has four paid staff.