Affordable Housing & Homelessness
Every person deserves to live in a safe and secure home. However, the high cost of housing and limited supply of affordable homes in Marin forces many of our neighbors into unjust housing situations.
What's at stake
1,100 of our neighbors are currently without a home. Nearly half of our county's households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. 62% of Marin county workers live outside the county and commute to work.
Marin's high cost of housing harms a wide range of people, and we simply cannot be a vibrant and diverse community unless housing costs decline, and more housing is built. Period.
Our vision
To address housing issues effectively will require billions of dollars. So we can't do this alone. We will collaborate with community leaders and experts to identify critical intervention points in the continuum from homelessness to homeownership. We will seek opportunities to leverage our funding to prevent and resolve homelessness, protect tenants, preserve affordability, and produce more housing.
The Year in Review
June 30, 2024 to July 1, 2025 represented the first full year of our Homelessness & Affordable Housing strategy in action. While MCF has worked on both issues for decades, the new strategy shifted our focus from primarily making capital grants and loans for housing projects, and from executing safety net grants for homelessness.
We have a new, intentional objective to prevent homelessness. And a three-pronged approach to protect, preserve and produce affordable housing.
The tools we are using expand beyond grantmaking (although grantmaking remains a vital tool). We are leveraging the power of recoverable grants, loans, research, convening, trainings, and we’re asking others to join us in our efforts. Much of the work is foundational – laying the groundwork for impacts that will take years to deliver results.
Over the course of the year, we awarded $5M directly through this initiative and an additional $4M to housing and homelessness service providers through other MCF grantmaking programs. We also maintain $18 million in active loans, leveraging tens of millions of public and private sector investments in the process. Let’s break that down:
Homelessness
Close to 20% of the grants were directed towards homelessness prevention in priority communities throughout the county. This included grants to Ritter Center, North Marin Community Services, Legal Aid of Marin and the funding of a two-year homelessness prevention pilot with All Home and the County of Marin. This partnership aims to bring to Marin an evidence-backed targeted homelessness prevention program which uses the latest research to target direct financial assistance to households at greatest risk of homelessness. MCF, the County, and All Home are all providing funding, and the County and All Home are providing in kind support as well.
Affordable Housing
The remaining 80% of grants were directed towards increasing the supply of affordable housing, covering everything from advocacy for more public revenue sources to early capacity building for organizations developing permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness. On the financing side, our 16 active loans have contributed towards 310 permanently affordable housing units for lower-income community members including 45 homes designated for seniors, 16 for adults with disabilities, and 10 for survivors of domestic violence.
Inspiring Outcomes - The Canal
The Canal District is home to many of Marin’s families who are experiencing the greatest housing cost burdens – having to pay over 50% of their income in rent. The residents of the Canal comprise some of our area’s most essential workers – childcare workers, food service workers, construction workers, gardeners, janitors, caregivers, etc. – who often work multiple jobs to make ends meet. The Canal Alliance is determined to prevent displacement of these residents by preserving at least 100 units of housing in the District. MCF provided grant and loan dollars for the Canal Alliance to purchase a 9-unit building and prevent displacement of more than 30 family members.
Learn more about the movement to prevent displacement and preserve affordable housing at Rooted in Marin, a countywide collaboration of jurisdictions across Marin.
Inspiring Outcomes - West Marin
A January 2025 settlement by three environmental groups and the National Park Service is resulting in 12 ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore closing by early 2026. Other ranch closures, such as the Martinelli Ranch, are also imminent, as county inspections have exposed substandard and unsafe housing conditions on these properties. These ranches have housed dozens of service workers and family members who will lose their longtime homes, and in many cases, their livelihoods. These residents — nearly all Latino and low-income — have lived or worked in West Marin for generations.
The community has rallied to meet this need, and MCF has worked with state, county, and local leaders to raise funds to support CLAM in developing 40 affordable interim homes for the affected families. Working with the County, West Marin Fund, and others, we hope to have all of these homes online within a year, and are proud to have contributed grant dollars to the effort, as well as raising more than $4M from our donors for this vital work.
Future Direction
As we embark on year two, we will continue to provide support that both responds to immediate, urgent needs (such as gap financing for housing preservation and enactment of anti-displacement policies), as well as efforts that plant seeds for the future. We will support work that grows public investment in housing, encourages pro-housing champions, increases nonprofit capacity, and ultimately creates the strong affordable housing ecosystem that Marin that needs and deserves. Similarly, we’ll continue pursuing avenues to accelerate the end of homelessness in Marin County and stop it before it starts.
If you’re interested in joining us in these efforts, please let us know, as there are many ways to participate. Connect with Cassandra Benjamin at cbenjamin@marincfconsultant.org
Housing and homelessness resources
Interested in learning more? Selected reports and research papers are below.
