Body of News Release
UPDATE 4/15: The Board approved the loan from the Housing Trust Fund.
Marin County, CA – Continuing its commitment to help create more affordable housing, the Marin County Board of Supervisors is considering a loan of more than $5.2 million for a Habitat for Humanity development on the north side of Novato. The 80-unit complex, to include 60 units for low-income households, is the largest in-progress affordable homeownership proposals in Marin.
The property is at 8161 Redwood Boulevard between a Days Inn motel and the former distribution center for the Birkenstock footwear company. The parcel is one mile north of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) rail station at San Marin Drive and two miles north of Novato’s Old Town business district.
The proposed $5,239,098 loan to Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco would cover predevelopment and construction costs and enable the nonprofit agency to move the project forward amid rising expenses. The total expected cost of the project is about $84.47 million.
In a real estate market with a median home cost of over $1.4 million, only the most well-off Marin County residents can afford to buy a home. The Habitat for Humanity homes will all be made available for low- and moderate-income families. Sales prices are estimated to be between $467,063 and $689,554 for the low-income units. Homes will be allocated via a lottery system, with Habitat for Humanity offering financial counseling and maintenance training to support long-term success.
Originally proposed with 41 low-income units, the plan was strategically revised this year to increase the number to 60 to better align with the Housing Trust Fund’s mission of supporting deeply affordable housing and significantly expands access to stable homeownership for lower-income families particularly those from historically underserved communities.
Staff from the Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA) manages the Marin County Housing Trust Fund, which was created in 1988 to increase the stock of permanently affordable homes in the county. Marin has some of the highest real estate and rental costs in the nation. The Housing Trust Fund is used regularly to help affordable housing developers build and preserve homes for lower-income individuals and households. Building on state and local investments that have supported local affordable housing initiatives, the County has committed over $49 million from its General Fund and added more than 1,400 affordable housing units since 2015 through new construction, acquisition, conversion, or preservation.
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