The state has endorsed most of Marin’s recently updated affordable housing goals but requested more specifics about how the county intends to discourage discrimination against people buying or renting a home. In a letter sent last month, state officials praised the county for meeting the Jan. 31 deadline for submitting its updates to the Housing Element of Marin’s Countywide Plan, which must be revised every eight years. They did not ask for changes to the sites the county rezoned to accommodate at least 3,596 new units in unincorporated Marin, with more than half set aside for low-income or moderate-income housing. But officials asked for more details about how Marin intends to meet fair housing laws that promote opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, national origin or disability. The state outlined two approaches to meet such requirements: investing in less affluent neighborhoods and promoting construction of additional housing in “areas of concentrated affluence.” Marin is already pursuing both of those approaches, said Leelee Thomas, a housing specialist with the county. “We will revise and clarify some of the work we are already doing that maybe we didn’t do a good enough job of explaining in our Housing Element,” she said, adding: “We are a predominantly white community surrounded by a really diverse Bay Area. There’s a lot of interest in how we are complying with fair housing.” Facing an acute housing shortage, state officials have required cities and towns across California to find ways to increase their stock of housing, especially affordable housing. In the past, these targets have rarely been met. Hoping to get more units built this time, the Board of Supervisors recently increased Marin’s affordable annual housing budget from $1 million to $5 million. Meanwhile, an effort is underway to put a $10 billion to $20 billion affordable housing bond before voters next year in the nine member counties of the Association of Bay Area Governments. But solving the affordable housing crisis on the coast has its own additional challenges. Recent changes to state law require local officials to permit property owners to subdivide two-acre lots and build second homes on them, but that doesn’t apply in the coastal zone that encompasses most of West Marin. Marin has made zoning changes that allow for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and more multi-family housing, but the latter won’t take effect in the coastal zone unless an amendment to the Local Coastal Program is approved later this year. The acute shortage of workforce housing has prompted much debate and discussion in West Marin, where the county has imposed a moratorium on short-term rentals while it considers their impact on the year-round housing supply. The topic will be addressed at the Point Reyes Station Village Association’s meeting tonight, April 13, at the Dance Palace. The association has tentatively endorsed stricter limits on short-term rentals while prioritizing ADUs over high-density apartments in the center of town.