Congressman Jared Huffman introduced legislation in Congress on Wednesday that would require the Coast Guard to sell its housing complex in Point Reyes Station to Marin County within one year of the bill’s passage, with a mandate that the county use it for affordable housing.
The Coast Guard would have to sell the 30-acre site at a fair market value based on that use.
“The dearth of affordable housing in West Marin has pushed more and more working-class families out of the region, negatively impacting families and making it hard for local businesses and agricultural producers to find long-term staff,” Rep. Huffman said in a statement. “We have a rare opportunity to provide affordable housing to the Point Reyes community without impacting the existing landscape.”
In two weeks, county supervisors will consider a resolution in support of the purchase, to bolster the bill’s chance of passage.
Ever since news of the looming sale became public this year, local organizations, officials and residents have joined a rallying cry headed by the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin for the complex, which has 36 townhouse units and a dormitory, to be converted to affordable housing. Early community discussions centered around CLAM raising funds to purchase it, but if Rep. Huffman’s bill can pass in Congress, the county itself could provide many dozens of people a place to live in one fell swoop.
The opportunity comes at a time when the lure of turning homes into vacation rentals and high real estate prices are leaving many low and middle-income people scrambling to find a place to live, much less afford.
If the bill succeeds, the county would work with CLAM to help turn it into affordable housing, said Kim Thompson, the nonprofit’s executive director. If it fails, both CLAM and the county will still work on finding a way to acquire it. “We don’t want there to be a sense of disappointment, a feeling that it’s all over, if the legislation doesn’t pass. We’re committed to making it a reality,” Ms. Thompson said.
That would almost certainly mean finding a way to make the highest bid once it goes up for auction. The county might have to compete against a developer with deep pockets, although zoning issues and the absences of a sewage system could dissuade many.
Supervisor Steve Kinsey acknowledged the challenge of designing a sewage system for the complex. “At the same time, I think the site lends itself to an innovative waste treatment process that could also provide recycled water capable of benefitting adjacent or nearby agriculture,” he said.
A Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Anna Dixon, told the Light that a contractor with the General Services Administration will undertake an environmental property assessment, part of the process of selling federal property, next week. There are still some people living and working at the site; those who remain will be gone by next summer, and the property—if Rep. Huffman’s legislation fails to pass—will officially be put up for auction in October, the beginning of the federal fiscal year when the administration releases a notice of public availability. Until that happens. Lt. Dixon said the government is prohibited from allowing any potential buyers on the site.
The complex offers a beacon of hope for many in West Marin, where creating new affordable housing is difficult.
Matt Nagle, the principal of West Marin and Inverness Schools, said many people buying homes in West Marin these days either don’t live here full time or don’t send their children to public school. Acquiring the complex could give a “shot in the arm” to the school district, which is projected to have declining enrollment in coming years, as well as ensure the socioeconomic diversity of the student body. “It’s almost the last chance to reinvigorate both the community and the school, with families and all the positive energy that they bring,” he said. “You can’t have a school without the families.”
But the Coast Guard housing also brings a number of challenges, namely the lack of any sewer or community septic system. (Wastewater was previously trucked off-site.) It is also zoned as coastal open space.
Last week, before supervisors held a closed session on the potential purchase of the Coast Guard site, Ms. Thompson gave the board 25 letters of support from community organizations like the West Marin Chamber of Commerce and the Coastal Health Alliance.
Michael Mery, a longtime West Marin resident, also spoke. He told supervisors that in 1983, he rented a two bedroom for $750, the equivalent of about $1,800 now. But today, he went on, a two-bedroom could rent for as much as $2,800 or $3,000, meaning a household would need a six-figure income in order to pay the recommended one-third of household salary toward rent.
Those steep rents, combined with a low housing stock, have made the situation “fairly stark,” he said. “With the drop in full-time rental availability, our community, in terms of service people, is being largely hollowed out.”