HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Resolution 15124 (Grand Jury Report - Affordable Housing - Time for Collaboration in Marin)RESOLUTION NO. 15124
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE
RESPONSE TO THE MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORT ENTITLED
- AFFORDABLE HOUSING: TIME FOR COLLABORATION IN MARIN
WHEREAS, pursuant to Penal Code section 933(c), a public agency which receives a
Grand Jury Report with findings and recommendations pertaining to matters under the control of
the public agency must, within ninety (90) days, provide a written response to the Presiding Judge
of the Superior Court with a copy to the Foreperson of the Grand Jury, responding to the Report’s
findings and recommendations; and
WHEREAS, Penal Code section 933(c) specifically requires that the “governing body” of the
public agency provide said response and, in order to lawfully comply, the governing body must
consider and adopt the response at a noticed public meeting pursuant to the Brown Act; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of San Rafael has received and reviewed the Marin
County Grand Jury Report, dated June 24, 2022, entitled “Affordable Housing: Time for
Collaboration in Marin;” and
WHEREAS, at a regular City Council meeting held on September 6, 2022, the Grand Jury
Report was presented, public testimony was accepted, and the City Council discussed the report
findings and recommendations.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of San Rafael
hereby:
1. Approves and authorizes the Mayor to execute the City’s response to the Marin County
Grand Jury’s June 24, 2022 report, entitled “Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in
Marin,” a copy of which response is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
2. Directs the City Clerk to forward the City’s response forthwith to the Presiding Judge of the
Marin County Superior Court and to the Foreperson of the Marin County Grand Jury.
I, Lindsay Lara, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution
was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a special meeting of the San Rafael City Council
held on the 19th day of September 2022, by the following vote to wit:
AYES: Councilmembers: Bushey, Hill, Kertz, Llorens Gulati & Mayor Kate
NOES: Councilmembers: None
ABSENT: Councilmembers: None
LINDSAY LARA, City Clerk
RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY REPORT FINDINGS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
REPORT TITLE: “AFFORDABLE HOUSING: TIME FOR COLLABORATION IN MARIN”
REPORT DATE: June 24, 2022
RESPONSE BY: San Rafael City Council
GRAND JURY FINDINGS
▪ We agree with the findings numbered: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F9, and F10
▪ We disagree wholly or partially with the finding numbered: F8
GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS
▪ Recommendation numbered R1 will not be implemented because it is not warranted or
reasonable.
Date: _____________________ Signed: __________________________
Mayor Kate Colin
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Report Findings and Recommendations
“Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in Marin”
(June 24, 2022)
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations Page 2 of 5
RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY FINDINGS
F1. Marin County lacks sufficient affordable and workforce housing.
Response: Agree.
F2. Increasingly, individuals who work in Marin County cannot afford to live in the county, many
of whom must commute from outside the county.
Response: Agree.
F3. Recent California laws provide new incentives for local governments to collaborate in
developing affordable housing.
Response: Agree.
F4. The Regional Housing Needs Allocation allotments are widely viewed as unachievable for
the county and many Marin municipalities.
Response: Agree.
The City supports using the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) as a means of
identifying sites for housing and is on track to meet its increased market-rate allocation for the
2023-2031 planning period. In August 2021, the City Council adopted General Plan2040.
General Plan2040 maintained almost all existing land use designations, which have existed since
at least 2000. Most of these designations already allow residential development. The City is also
actively seeking ways to support affordable and workforce/moderate housing projects. That
said, whether the amount of housing allocated through RHNA can be built within the eight-year
timeframe will depend on many factors that are outside the City’s control, such as owner
interest, availability of land, financing, and other market forces.
F5. Failure to achieve Regional Housing Needs Allocation allotments will trigger loss of local
control over housing development.
Response: Agree.
F6. There is new and increasing support and willingness to cooperate among elected officials
for building affordable housing in Marin.
Response: Agree.
F7. A countywide approach to housing development would enhance Marin’s ability to meet
affordable and workforce housing needs.
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Report Findings and Recommendations
“Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in Marin”
(June 24, 2022)
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations Page 3 of 5
Response: Agree.
San Rafael collaborates and coordinates housing programs with Marin County and other towns
and cities in a number of areas, as discussed further in the response to Recommendation R1
below.
F8. Large affordable housing developments in Marin require subsidies to be financially feasible.
Response: Partially disagree.
Regardless of size, all affordable housing developments require subsidies. In fact, smaller
developments are more expensive, more difficult to fund, and cost more per unit than larger
developments.
F9. Organizations with expertise and access to subsidies and other funding sources are
successfully building new affordable and workforce housing developments in Marin.
Response: Agree.
The Vivalon Healthy Aging Campus and Senior Housing currently under construction in San
Rafael is an example of successful countywide partnership. Eden Housing and Vivalon are
collaborating on a mixed-use project with studios and 1-bedroom apartments on the upper
floors, which will be available to low-income seniors. The City of San Rafael and County of
Marin provided funding, and the Marin Housing Authority provided project-based vouchers.
F10. A countywide approach to housing development would enhance Marin’s ability to secure
funding for affordable and workforce housing.
Response: Agree.
San Rafael collaborates and coordinates housing programs with Marin County and other towns
and cities in a number of areas, as discussed further in the response to Recommendation R1
below.
RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury recommends the following:
R1. No later than December 31, 2022, the Marin County Board of Supervisors and Marin’s city
and town councils should jointly create a regional authority, or empower an existing authority
such as the Transportation Authority of Marin, to coordinate affordable and workforce housing
policy on a countywide basis.
This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or reasonable.
The City agrees that more collaboration on housing policy and funding would be beneficial and
will likely result in more affordable housing in our communities. In fact, much work has been
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Report Findings and Recommendations
“Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in Marin”
(June 24, 2022)
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations Page 4 of 5
done to date, as described below, and additional opportunities are being developed. The City
remains open to additional collaboration and/or more formal arrangements in the future.
However, forming a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with 12 jurisdictions would take a significant
investment of time, funding and energy that would likely impair current housing efforts, and of
course requires willing partners. Doing so by December 31, 2022 is not a realistic timeline,
particularly given that each Marin jurisdiction is currently striving to meet statutory deadlines to
submit their housing element by January 31, 2023.
Below is a brief summary of existing and recommended new pursuits for strengthening
interjurisdictional coordination and planning around affordable and workforce housing:
Existing collaboration
The City has long participated in housing collaboration with the County and other cities and
towns, beginning in 2008 with the development of the countywide Housing Element Workbook,
which provided a shared template, background information and model programs and policies for
development of the 2009 Housing Element. This effort resulted in all Marin municipalities
receiving certified housing elements, which in turn made more housing funds available.
In 2019, City staff joined a countywide working group of Planning Directors and planning staff to
encourage interjurisdictional collaboration on housing issues and solutions, with a specific focus
on responding to new state legislation to streamline housing developments. The working group
established common goals and coordinated on housing legislation, planning, production, and
preservation of existing affordability. The working group meets once monthly and has evolved
from briefings and discussions regarding state housing legislation into collaboration on projects
to facilitate the development of more housing in Marin County. The group received funds from
ABAG to work collaboratively on shared Housing Element deliverables including translation
dollars, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing products, visualizations, and a countywide
website. In some instances where the City already had begun certain policies and projects
ahead of other jurisdictions, the City shared its conclusions and remained open to alignment
when in service to increasing housing supply.
Future collaboration
The City intends to expand collaboration with the County and other cities and towns in the
following ways:
1. Commit to collaboration: In the City’s draft 2023-2031 Housing Element, a proposed
new program would “Collaborate with Marin County, cities and towns to address regional
planning and housing issues”
▪ This would require the City, along with Marin County and other cities and towns,
to commit resources to collaboration and hold a public hearing annually to report
on progress to the respective decision-making body and report to the State
through the Annual Progress Report (APR).
2. Implementation of Housing Element programs: During implementation of the 2023-
2031 Housing Element, the City will collaborate with the County and other cities and
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Report Findings and Recommendations
“Affordable Housing: Time for Collaboration in Marin”
(June 24, 2022)
City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations Page 5 of 5
towns on program implementation, especially those related to Affirmatively Furthering
Fair Housing and tenant protections. This will include:
▪ Model ordinances: helping to inform model ordinances developed by the County,
to be considered by the Board of Supervisors and City Councils.
▪ Outreach and community engagement: Conducting shared outreach and
community engagement.
3. Housing Element Collaboration: Develop a deeper and more formalized collaboration
on the Housing Element in the future. This could include:
▪ Shared Housing Element components and policy toolkit: Develop shared
background and outreach sections, and a toolkit of programs and policies. This
would provide consistency, save funds and improve accessibility for stakeholders
and housing developers.
▪ Consider a Subregional approach: The County and cities and towns could
consider developing a subregional approach to meeting the Regional Housing
Need Allocation in the next housing element cycle.
▪ Shared consultants to conserve resources and develop more consistent policies
and programs, the County, cities and towns will seek to hire the same
consultants to prepare parts of the housing element, conduct regional outreach
and conduct any needed environmental review.
4. Funding collaboration: explore ways to more effectively collaborate on shared funding
for affordable housing. This could include:
▪ Inclusionary policies: Developing more consistent fees to encourage and
facilitate more affordable housing as part of new market rate developments and
increase funding for affordable housing.
▪ Regional housing trust fund: Consider the establishment of a regional housing
trust fund which would make state applications more competitive and lower the
administrative burden for cities and towns.
▪ Community Development Block Funds: Continue to collaborate as part of the
Marin County entitlement community on using CDBG funds to fund affordable
housing and leverage other State and Federal Sources.
▪ Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA): Continue to collaborate as an
entitlement community to use PLHA funds on housing-related projects and
programs that assist in addressing the unmet housing needs of our local
communities.
▪ The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA): Actively participate and
support the efforts of BAHFA to raise funds to help address affordable housing
and housing stability.