After just two years as executive director, Pam Dorr is leaving the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin to take a job with Habitat for Humanity in San Francisco.
During her tenure, Ms. Dorr has grappled with one of the region’s most urgent issues—increasing the supply of affordable housing for local workers whose incomes haven’t kept pace with West Marin’s escalating real estate prices.
She has focused much of her time on moving the Coast Guard housing project through a thicket of environmental regulations and county building code hurdles. The project, which was initiated before she arrived, will provide 54 affordable homes and is currently expected to be completed in 2027, three years later originally planned.
“While that seems far away, the 54 homes will provide much-needed affordable housing for families in our community,” Ms. Dorr said. “As with most things in the affordable housing world, developing housing in the environmentally sensitive areas around Tomales Bay takes time.”
She is expecting the project to soon clear some permitting hurdles and enter a public hearing phase as early as next month.
Under her leadership, CLAM has also added two Third Street homes to its portfolio. Shortly after a couple moved into 35 Third Street, their baby son was born.
“Bringing families with young children back to the community is something we can all be excited about,” Ms. Dorr wrote in a farewell message to CLAM’s staff and supporters. “I am also proud to see work beginning on the property right across the street at 60 Third Street.” When CLAM finishes a renovation, that property will provide homes for four families.
Ms. Dorr has been working to find ways to recruit new board members who have personal experience negotiating West Marin’s affordable housing market.
“We want to incorporate more people with lived experience onto the board and provide more inclusion and diversity into the work of each committee,” she said. “We have set a mandate over time to have our board and staff reflect the demographics of the community.”
Ms. Dorr will begin her new job at Habitat for Humanity next week, serving as vice president for home preservation, overseeing the division that handles repairs for low-income homeowners.
“It’s a big loss for CLAM,” said Pamela Wright, CLAM’S board chair. “Pam brought a depth of knowledge of the affordable housing space—construction, permitting, legislation, financing—so many aspects of affordable housing are very complex, and she has decades of experience. She has really raised our profile.”
While CLAM searches for a permanent replacement, former board chair Corey Ohama, a documentary film editor and West Marin native, will serve as half-time interim director.
“Corey knows CLAM inside out, and she knows the community,” Ms. Wright said. “She grew up here and raised her children here. We really wanted someone who knows the organization to fill in, and we were thrilled when she agreed to do this.”