Combating Homelessness

Homelessness has become synonymous with the Bay Area. Despite possessing immense wealth throughout most of the region, the Bay Area struggles to house our fellow community members. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing described Bay Area homelessness as a human rights violation, based on the deplorable living conditions they noted were on par with the poorest areas they encountered in the developing world. 

In Marin, we likewise face an epidemic of homelessness; while even the lowest income states like Mississippi were recorded as having an unhoused population of just 3.3 per 10,000 people, in Marin, our rate was over ten times higher at 43.6 per 10,000 residents. So what gives? One thing: our shocking lack of affordable housing. Although a lot of passionate individuals fought hard to successfully lower our unhoused rate between 2022 and 2024 (a fantastic win!), without new affordable housing, this battle is just going to get tougher and tougher. 

Homelessness is an affordable housing issue. 

  • Marin faces a jaw-dropping affordable housing crisis: Rents in Marin have skyrocketed 50% since 2010, only five percent of our rental homes are subsidized low-income, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition argued in 2022 that Marin was the “number one most expensive county in the nation.” Simply put, it’s extremely difficult to afford rent in Marin, and that has severe consequences. 
  • Marin’s affordable housing shortage causes homelessness: Existing research clearly shows that affordable housing scarcity is the primary cause of homelessness. Other factors, such as income or health, have no correlation with regional differences in unhoused rates. If you can’t afford a place to live, you are more likely to live on the street. This is especially true in California, where evidence shows that over 90% of adults are experiencing homelessness “due primarily to the dire lack of affordable housing.” Likewise, in Marin, only 13% of individuals are primarily unhoused due to mental health issues, and 21% for substance abuse reasons; 77%, however, cite a desperate need for rental assistance. 
  • We have no vacancy: Contrary to a popular myth that empty homes are common throughout Marin, our vacancy rate is shockingly low. While anything below a 5% vacancy rate is considered below average, the most recent 2021 U.S. Census American Community Survey revealed our rental vacancy rate to be just 2.3%. This means that finding a home is immensely difficult, and Marinites have little bargaining power against landlords. Indeed, low vacancy rates are consistently one of the strongest causes of homelessness across the country. 
  • Our unhoused community is overwhelmingly native to Marin: Again, contrary to a popular myth that the homeless in Marin are largely outsiders, the evidence tells a different story. As the New Yorker put it: “Nearly three-quarters of the chronically homeless population in Marin were either born or raised there; they have family members, friends, and support networks that they cannot simply leave behind.”
  • People living on the streets want better for themselves: A common myth argues that unhoused folks are often there out of choice. However, studies clearly show that the overwhelming majority want to be housed. 

The costly impacts of homelessness in Marin.