On Sunday, residents and county officials celebrated the San Geronimo Valley Affordable Housing Association’s purchase in November of the historic Forest Knolls Trailer Court, which effectively preserved 20 units for affordable housing in perpetuity. The nonprofit bought the trailer court for $1.4 million from the county, following Marin’s purchase of it from its original owners in October 2014. Combined with the nonprofit’s purchase in 1995 of three buildings reserved as six affordable housing units for seniors at the neighboring French Ranch property, the trailer court marks the greatest success in a decades-long effort to create affordable housing in the valley—though a severe housing dearth continues to keep low-income residents from living there. “It took all that time to make [26 units],” said Joe Walsh, a board member of the housing association. “That tells you what the state of affordable housing is in Marin County.” Housing advocates and the county should build on the momentum of the trailer court purchase, said Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who spoke to a crowd of around 50 people gathered at the San Geronimo Community Presbyterian Church. He called on candidates hoping to win his seat in November—of whom five were present at Sunday’s gathering, including Alex Easton-Brown, Tomas Kaselionis, Dennis Rodoni and Mari Tamburo—to keep in mind the valley’s affordable housing needs. “You do have to have a supervisor that really understands and cares about the community, and about affordable housing,” said Supervisor Kinsey, who lives in the valley. The county’s purchase halted a slow yearly rent increase for trailer court tenants, after the court’s owner, Dan Yerion, died in 2009 and passed it down to his children. Rents that had risen $25 a year dropped back down to the original $575 following the county purchase—much to the tenants’ relief. “I moved in because I wanted to live in the valley,” said Janet Hughes, a Fairfax Library assistant who has lived at the trailer court since 2009. “That was the only place I could afford.”