Urgent action is needed to improve the quantity and quality of housing for farmworkers and other low-wage workers that form the backbone of West Marin’s economy, according to a sweeping study released today by a committee of housing experts, ranchers and community advocates.
Hoping to spur action, the report includes the voices of farmworkers, ranchers and retail employers who have been struggling to fill jobs due to the lack of housing in West Marin and its stratospheric cost. The study’s authors conducted extensive outreach to members of West Marin’s Latino communites, whose voices are often overlooked in discussions of community issues that disproportionately affect them.
While the report cataloges some egregious housing conditions on some ranches and elsewhere, it seeks not to cast blame but to focus on solutions to what many regard as West Marin’s most vexing challenge. Those solutions would require concerted effort from county officials, foundation donors, nonprofits, Latino leaders and the public—and a substantial committment of funding.
“West Marin is at a critical juncture,” said Sarah Hobson, executive director of the West Marin Fund and chair of the committee that commissioned the report. “We need to act now and work together to create equitable housing solutions and inclusive communities.”
Formed in 2018, the Committee for Housing Agricultural Workers and Their Families includes representatives from the Marin Community Foundation, the West Marin Fund, the Marin County Community Development Agency, West Marin Health and Human Services, the National Park Service, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust and the community land trusts serving Point Reyes Station, Bolinas and the San Geronimo Valley.
“The health and vitality of West Marin’s communities are dependent on creating an adequate supply of quality housing affordable to local workers and residents,” states the report, which will be released at a press event today at the Dance Palace. “Housing is essential to the sustainability of the businesses, schools and parks in the region, as well as to ensuring equitable health and social outcomes.”
The report is replete with U.S. census statistics underlining the need for more housing and the challenges of paying rent in one of the nation’s most affluent counties, where income inequality is pronounced.
• Median household income in Marin is so high—$136,000—that even a family of four earning $93,200 a year meets the federal definition of “very low income.”
• Forty-two percent of West Marin households spend more than a third of their income on housing, while 22 percent spend more than half.
• Twelve percent of West Marin households—and 27 percent of Latino residents—live below the poverty line.
• Forty-four percent of West Marin workers earn less than $40,000 a year.
• Farmworkers are among the lowest-paid workers in West Marin, with estimated annual earnings between $27,000 and $48,400.
The housing situation is urgent and will soon grow more acute if the ranches and dairies in the Point Reyes National Seashore are required to shut down due to litigation that could be settled as soon as Oct. 18, the report states.
“The outcome of the settlement may result in the closure of some or all of the ranches, and therefore the displacement of the families that live and, in some cases, work on them,” the report states. “It is critical to have a suite of short- and long-term options for the very low-income workers and renters, some of whom have lived there for decades.”
Said one unnamed survey participant quoted in the report: “If they continue closing ranches, where do we go?”
An urgent priority, the report states, is the immediate development of interim housing sites for an estimated 50 to 100 households at risk of immediate displacement from ranches with “extremely substandard housing,” some in the seashore, some outside its borders.
In addition to parsing U.S. census data and other demographic sources, the authors of the report relied on surveys and Spanish-language interviews with Latino workers, both those who live in West Marin and those who commute from areas with less expensive housing.
The interviews were conducted by bicultural and bilingual interviewers who live and work in West Marin, some of whom grew up on ranches here. Information was gathered from 150 people in all, with 68 of them participating in extensive in-person interviews, 48 answering online surveys and 34 participating in shorter in-person interviews at or near their workplaces in Point Reyes Station, Inverness, Bolinas, Tomales and Nicasio.
The economic circumstances of many interviewees were dire. Forty-three percent said they sometimes had to decide between paying for housing or basic needs such as food or health care. Fifty-eight percent said they spend more than half their income on housing, and 26 percent said their income sometimes wasn’t sufficient to pay rent at all. That was true especially for outdoor workers in the rainy season.
“During these times, they have to borrow from friends and family, pay bills later, and access increased safety net support,” the report states.
Seventy-one percent of the interview participants lived on West Marin ranches—some with active ranching operations, some without—but many of the respondents who lived on ranches did not work in agriculture. Only 54 percent came from households with a family member who worked on a ranch, dairy or farm.
Overall, whether they lived on a ranch or elsewhere, 44 percent said their housing was excellent or good. But when pressed for details, 87 percent said there were problems with their house, most frequently citing mold or mildew (57 percent), insects or rodents (53 percent) and unpleasant smells (43 percent.)
Twenty-six percent said they had no heat, 18 percent lacked a stove, 16 percent had no indoor or drinkable water, and 15 percent lacked an indoor or working toilet.
On average, households reported an average of seven housing problems, and 78 percent cited issues that would be considered “major violations” by the county, according to the report.
“I’m comfortable where I am living,” one respondent said. “I just wish the home I am in now did not have so much mold.”
Another said: “My home is sinking like the Titanic. It’s falling apart.”
Nearly three quarters of respondents said they had asked their landlord to make repairs, but just over half did not receive a timely response. Thirteen percent of respondents who lived in employer-provided housing said their employer threatened to reduce their pay or work hours when they requested repairs.
Because of their immigration status, many interviewees were reluctant to request repairs for fear of being deported. Half of those interviewed were undocumented.
“Two out of three participants were actively worried that they or their family member could be deported despite being long-term community members of Marin County,” the report states.
West Marin needs at least 1,000 new housing units for the current workforce, according to the report, and the lack of sufficient housing forces many who would like to live in West Marin to commute from elsewhere. Fifty-nine percent of respondents who commute said they would move here if they could find affordable housing.
The local workforce is shrinking as many of those forced to leave the area find jobs closer to their new homes. As a result, school populations are dwindling, with some schools on the brink of closure. Over the last decade, the Shoreline Unified School District student population has plummeted by 26 percent.
Meanwhile, employers are finding it harder and harder to staff their businesses. “Employers cited housing as the most critical ingredient to West Marin being able to keep its farms, restaurants and other establishments open and available to the community and visitors,” the report stated.
Many property owners, particularly those living on ranches, who were interviewed said they would like to improve housing for their workers but didn’t have the means to do so. They also feared increased scrutiny from county inspectors if they applied for the necessary permits.
The report cited multiple barriers to increasing West Marin’s housing supply. Much of the region is set aside as open space or protected by agricultural easements and restrictive zoning. Water connections are limited and septic requirements are strict. Much of the land is in the coastal zone and thus subject to an additional layer of review and constraints imposed by the California Coastal Commission.
The report also cited NIMBYism as an obstacle to development, with residents frequently raising concerns about environmental impacts, property values and the preservation of “community character.”
The report recommends a wide array of approaches to removing obstacles to rehabilitating existing homes and building new ones, citing a dozen successful programs operating elsewhere in California. They range from tightening inspections of rental housing to easing zoning requirements for affordable home construction to providing incentives for owners of second homes to rent them year-round.
The report recommends establishing a fund at a trusted local nonprofit that would provide grants to agricultural employers who wish to improve worker housing on their ranches but lack the funds to do it. It also recommends an amnesty program for landlords who agree to prioritize health and safety improvements, ensuring that they will not be cited for unrelated code violations discovered on their properties.
The report cites the temporary emergency R.V. park established by the Bolinas Community Land Trust as a successful model. The trust plans to buy an adjacent ranch and build permanent affordable housing there. The project is being funded by local nonprofits and private donors as well as grants from the county and state. How such a project might be replicated elsewhere, and by whom, is left unstated.
Because a patchwork of agencies is tasked with overseeing rental housing conditions, the committee recommends establishing a comprehensive system for inspecting ranch houses proactively, before conditions deteriorate. That program would be coordinated by the state, the county, MALT and the National Park Service, each of which controls portions of West Marin’s lands.
The report also puts forth several ideas for transforming West Marin’s abundant supply of empty second-homes and short-term rentals into full-time rentals. One such program, called Placemate, offers homeowners financial incentives to rent year-round. Another would impose a vacant home tax on homeowners who leave their property empty for more than six months a year, an idea that was adopted this year in San Francisco and Berkeley.
Easing zoning and land-use restrictions could also hasten development of new worker housing, according to the report. It recommends updating the county’s septic requirements for multi-unit developments and promoting larger-scale septic systems such as those in Marshall and Tomales.
The report also recommends streamlining the permitting process and reducing permitting costs for small-scale agricultural worker housing, as well as lobbying the legislature to remove restrictions on affordable housing in the coastal zone.
To elevate the voices of Latino residents, the report recommends investing in Latino leadership development to combat racism and discrimination and increase the community’s influence in community affairs. Money for leadership training could be provided by foundations and donor-advised funds. Partnerships could be developed with established, Latino-led community organizing groups such as the North Bay Organizing Project and the Canal Alliance in San Rafael.
To rally support for its recommendations, the committee is planning a series of community meetings this fall, with sessions in Point Reyes Station, Tomales, San Geronimo and Bolinas. After gathering community input, it plans to recommend a specific list of proposals to county officials. To track progress, the committee will develop an online dashboard of action items with the names of organizations tasked with achieving each one.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, said Cassandra Benjamin, the lead author of the housing report. “In order for this community to thrive, we all have to thrive,” she said. “And that means everyone, everywhere needs a safe, secure place to live.”
For more, go to wmhousingsolutions.org