Marin County adopted an emergency ordinance on Tuesday that will make it easier to create temporary shelter for unhoused people and those living in dwellings unfit for human habitation.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve the measure, spurred in part by recent red-tagging of West Marin properties and the imminent displacement of farmworkers and other families from ranches and dairies closing in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
“We have people living in subpar conditions that are compromising their safety,” said Sarah Jones, director the Marin County Community Development Agency. “Without better housing available, the choice is for them to stay put or be entirely displaced.”
The emergency measure, which will remain in effect for three years, adopts an alternative building code that allows R.V.s and tiny homes on wheels that are currently prohibited because they lack permanent foundations. It only applies to unincorporated areas of the county.
“This is a step that the county can take to provide innovative and proactive leadership to reduce and remove regulations that make it hard to add temporary emergency shelter,” said Gary Naja-Riese, director of the county’s Homelessness and Coordinated Care Division. “This is really about adding new tools to our toolbox.”
The vote came after two dozen people spoke in favor of the measure, including a large contingent from West Marin who said the need for new housing was urgent. They called the ordinance an important first step but stressed the need for permanent housing.
Among the speakers was Enrique Hernandez, one of several people who live in housing on the Martinelli ranch that the county declared unfit for human habitation last year.
“I’m here to say to you that this is a good step, but it’s not enough for someone in my situation,” he said. “It’s like giving us a piece of ice and saying take that ice to the refrigerator and see if it gets there. We want something more just.”
Gabriel Romo, who has lived in the seashore all his life, told the board that the closure of ranches and dairies would have wide-ranging consequences in addition to displacing up to 90 people, including farmworkers and others who work in town.
“Our local schools will be affected as students will be pulled to other districts,” he said. “Most of the workforce of West Marin will be forced to move, quite possibly to another county, creating a greater cultural and racial divide and furthering the existing wealth disparity and inequality in our community.”
The county has not yet allocated money for temporary housing or identified locations where it could be placed. But it is coordinating with local nonprofits and foundations to identify options. The Community Land Trust Association of West Marin received a $150,000 grant from the Marin Community Foundation last fall to study potential locations for interim housing. And the West Marin Fund is recruiting owners of second homes willing to offer temporary housing to displaced families.
Christina Gomez-Mira, medical director of the Point Reyes and Bolinas Community Health Centers, said families threatened with the loss of housing can suffer lasting emotional trauma in addition to physical ailments from living in deplorable conditions. She sees school students who don’t know whether they will have a place to live in the next few months.
“We know that these negative experiences affect them as they grow into adults,” she said, listing outcomes such as diabetes, anxiety and depression. “How can we mitigate these impacts if there are no housing options? An ordinance like this is a start to providing the security that we need for the health of our community and the families that are essential to West Marin.”