Name: Marin Community Foundation
Price range: $

Stinson Beach Affordable Housing

Background

The Calle del Embarcadero Apartments in Stinson Beach is an eight-unit complex, consisting of seven one-bedroom apartments and one studio apartment. In 2015 the owner decided to sell the property. The people living there, including two tenants using Section 8 housing assistance vouchers, were likely to be displaced, because the new owner was expected to raise rents to market rates. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Marin at that time was $2,262.

Project

A collaboration between the county of Marin, Marin Community Foundation, Community Land Trust Association of West Marin (CLAM) and the Stinson Beach Affordable Housing Committee was formed to enable the creation of the first permanently affordable housing units in Stinson Beach.The rapid and generous financial support of the Stinson Beach community added momentum and a real sense of community to the project.

A mix of grants and loans was supplied to cover the cost of purchasing the Calle del Embarcadero Apartments by CLAM.

Loan Purpose

The Marin County Board of Supervisors gave CLAM $1 million from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund, half as a grant and half as a loan. The MCF Loan Fund supplied a $1.35 million loan and a $500,000 grant. Without MCF funding, it’s unlikely the County of Marin would have approved increasing expenditure appropriations to $500,000 for the County Grant.

Outcome

This is the first affordable housing project in Stinson Beach. The units are now preserved in perpetuity as affordable, reserved for full-time residents who qualify as low income or very low income (two-person households making between $73,000 and $117,000 annually), per a planned deed restriction on the property. Current full-time residents are grandfathered in, and when they move, they will be replaced with an income-qualifying tenant.