Fund affordable housing now to keep families together – Marin Independent Journal
Construction continues on a townhome development on Redwood Boulevard near Wood Hollow Drive in Novato on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
I’ve always been someone who likes to plan. As I was taking my final exams as a sophomore in college, I realized something terrible. I was halfway through college and had no idea where I would be when I graduated.
Panic sets in. What am I working towards? Where do I want to go?
In this wave of sudden hardship and uncertainty, the possibility of moving back to Marin and living close to my family never crossed my mind—not because I had any desire to move far away, but because I knew that due to the extremely high cost of housing in Marin, I would likely never be able to afford to live independently in my hometown.
My family moved here from Oakland because they were looking for good public schools, but also beautiful nature and open spaces. In the nine years since then, Marin has truly become our home.
I hope that Marin can remain my home when I grow up, but that seems almost impossible – unless I marry a multimillionaire, find out I’m the heiress to a large fortune, or buy a winning lottery ticket. As happy as those events would be, I don’t need millionaire ambitions to have the opportunity to return to the place where I grew up.
Without affordable housing, I and many other young Marin residents will be forced to live apart from their families, even if we have chosen traditionally lucrative careers.
When multiple generations of families can live and grow up in one place, it can have a huge positive impact on the community. Some of my closest friends’ parents grew up in Marin, and their connections and impact on the community were obvious. I once went trick-or-treating with my best friend, a third-generation resident. It took us several hours to walk around the entire block because almost every household knew my friend’s parents or grandparents. They all wanted to stop and chat.
At the time, I was impatient and a little jealous of my friend’s connections, but now I see that they are a testament to a beautiful, well-connected community. This type of community, whether through family connections or cross-generational friendships, is incredibly important when it comes to childcare.
In areas where housing costs are not as high and the aging population is not deterred by a lack of options to downsize, working families often rely on grandparents and other family members for child care. Because Marin lacks school buses or after-school programs, parents, including my own, have had to hire help—adding an additional psychological and financial burden to raising children in our expensive county.
The solution is housing, particularly affordable housing. Young people like me cannot return to Marin without changing the status quo. The housing situation in Marin is particularly difficult because the cost of living here is among the highest in California and housing production is at its lowest in decades. Marin does not have enough housing to support its population, which drives housing prices to exorbitant levels and drives teachers, doctors, lawyers and service workers – some of whom are locals – out of Marin.
By creating affordable housing structures, the things people love about Marin – the community and the charm of the neighborhood – will remain authentic for years to come. Housing is the most important issue for Marin voters and marks a major shift in public opinion. Marin residents have been fighting housing for decades, but a shift in public opinion is not enough to improve our current situation. We need funding – far more than what the state allocates – to meet the housing needs in Marin.
Neither the state nor the federal government is providing adequate funding for our needs. While there are affordable housing projects in Marin, they are not enough to fully solve the housing crisis. We need to build much more to create the Marin I dream of – a Marin that is more than just a place to grow up or move to. It is a county that has the potential to maintain history, support and connections for generations to come.
Abby Shewmaker of Tiburon will graduate from Redwood High School in 2022. She is studying history and communications at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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