Workforce Housing

Ronda Reese, San Rafael police officer (lives in Rohnert Park) and James Gallagher, firefighter (trying to buy a home in Petaluma):

• They are among the 38,000 who commute from outside of Marin, spending as much as 15% of their income on transportation.

• A 1989 Marin County Grand Jury study states: Marin County is "at risk" because so many public safety workers live outside of Marin County.

• Between 1988 and 1998, Marin County added 22,000 jobs, but only 7,000 new housing units.

Workforce Housing Marin needs homes for the locally employed! We need to change our attitudes about integrated housing, or we face continued shortages, and the inability of our own workforce to live where they work. We must all work together to solve this escalating problem.

Get involved…partner with local businesses and support local projects:

• Build more second units throughout the county
• Create more rental units and increase densities in already developed areas.
• Provide a range of housing serving all incomes
• Encourage mixed-use development that includes housing
• Advocate for more state and federal housing programs

Sources: The Marin Consortium for Workforce Housing, 817 Mission Street, San Rafael, CA http://housingcouncil.marin.org 415-454-4163

Marin Independent Journal, May 13, 2001