Body of News Release
Marin County, CA – During Marin County’s shelter crisis, the County government and nonprofit partners are looking for ways to provide emergency housing and shelter options for families displaced from ranches in coastal West Marin, where workforce housing choices are severely limited.
The County of Marin is considering grants to two affordable housing projects as ranches close throughout the Point Reyes National Seashore and other nearby areas. During its April 7 meeting, the Board of Supervisors plans to consider $810,000 in contributions from two sources to support the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin (CLAM) to renovate existing properties and prevent homelessness.
Should the allocations get approved, CLAM would direct the funds toward properties at 55/65 2nd Street in Point Reyes Station and the Sacred Heart Rectory at 10189 State Route 1 in Olema to renovate and preserve affordability on a total of seven housing units. The units are largely intended to be leased or are already leased by households displaced from ranches on federal land or other private ranches with habitability concerns.
All units are reserved for households earning an extremely low-income, which equates to an annual income of $58,000 and less for a household of four. The two projects are among several others in CLAM’s scattered-site approach to ensure immediate housing options to stabilize households at risk of leaving the community or becoming homeless.
West Marin’s severe housing and displacement crisis disproportionately impacts extremely low-income Latino households, most with employment linked to agriculture and visitor services. According to the Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA), an estimated 127 individuals across 37 households face imminent displacement because of planned ranch closures or unsafe living conditions. The families, with many members having lived and worked in the region for decades, face the loss of their homes, jobs, schools, and community ties.
CLAM bought the 2nd Street property in July 2025 through a below-market-rate sale. It contains a three-bedroom main home, a two-bedroom home, and junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU). Through CDA, CLAM is seeking $300,000 from the County’s Affordable Housing Trust and $210,000 in revenues derived from Measure W, a tax on short-term rentals in West Marin.
In Olema, CLAM is entering into a nine-year lease agreement with the Archdiocese of San Francisco to rehabilitate the rectory on the site of Sacred Heart Parish. The renovated building will provide four units of long-term transitional housing. CLAM has requested $300,000 from Measure W revenues toward the project.
Creating new affordable homes and preserving existing ones is an established priority for the Marin County Board of Supervisors and respondents to the County’s public surveys on the most urgent community needs. CLAM and the County have a legacy of collaboration, including the long-planned conversion of the shuttered U.S. Coast Guard multifamily housing facility near Point Reyes Station into a revitalized neighborhood for lower-income households.
Learn more about the County’s housing projects online.