Affordable Housing Help

Fourteen Key Affordable Housing Resources For Marin County Residents:

Navigating Marin County’s affordable housing options and resources can be difficult, often requiring a commitment on par with working a full-time job. The affordable housing bond on the November ballot seeks to address this issue by raising $700 million to create and preserve affordable housing in Marin (and $20 billion for the entire Bay Area). Until it passes, here’s a starting list of sources to make your journey just a bit easier. 

Finding Affordable Housing:

  1. Community assistance experts: To talk to a live person who possesses knowledge about local assistance resources and programs, 211 United Way is a great place to begin: https://www.211.org/ 
  2. Affordable housing search portal: affordablehousing.com makes it easy to find affordable housing in counties all across the Bay. Simply set your location and any other property filters: https://www.affordablehousing.com/marin-county-ca/ 
  3. Coordinate entry system: For residents who have fallen into homelessness, it’s crucial that you enter your information into Marin’s coordinated entry system. Your assessment puts you on a list for rapid rehousing or subsidized, permanent supportive housing: https://www.marincounty.org/-/media/files/departments/cd/housing/homekey/20201106-marin-ces-twopager-for-public.pdf?la=en 
  4. Homeward Bound of Marin: Homeward Bound is Marin’s central provider of unhoused shelters and supportive housing: https://hbofm.org/about-us/ 
  5. A list of affordable housing projects in Marin: All affordable housing projects currently managed by non-profit organizations throughout Marin County and their relevant contact information can be found in this Marin Housing Authority (MHA) list: https://irp.cdn-website.com/4e4dab0f/files/uploaded/subsidized_housing._list__1_-AD.pdf
  6. Senior housing assistance: The “Born To Age” guidebook is a fantastic resource for Sonoma and Marin seniors, offering a list of existing senior housing projects and resources for further assistance with housing and general aging needs: https://borntoage.com/sonoma-marin-county/ 
  7. Collection of affordable housing resources and information pertaining to Marin County: To get a general lay of the land when it comes to affordable housing in Marin County, check out the county’s Housing homepage. Included are resources related to such subjects as tenants, people at risk or experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, legal aid, homeowners, and community groups: https://www.marincounty.gov/departments/cda/housing-and-grants/housing-help: 
  8. Resource collection for public housing in Marin: The Marin Housing Authority is the public corporation in charge of Marin’s public housing and their homepage links to a number of strong resources. These include Housing Choice Voucher (formerly known as Section 8) and public housing information and waitlists, resources for below-market-rate potential/existing homeowners, and more: https://www.marinhousing.org/find-housing 
  9. Community assistance group list: This Marin Community Resource Guide from Community Action Marin offers a comprehensive list of organizations offering assistance throughout Marin on a wide variety of community needs, including housing, temporary shelter, tenant assistance, senior resources, and more: https://camarin.org/wp-content/uploads/CAM_ResourceGuide_2024_v2_4Web-1.pdf 

Tenant Assistance:

  1.  Basic tenant assistance: Tenant Protections offers a strong collection of resources for tenants, including a legal directory and helpline, an introduction to tenant rights, and a quiz to determine the specific tenant protections ensured in your local area: https://tenantprotections.org/ 
  2. Maximum rent increase calculator: For help determining whether your landlord is illegally spiking your rent, check out this resource: https://tenantprotections.org/calculator
  3. Eviction response toolkit: If you’ve been served an eviction notice, Tenant Power’s toolkit outlines next steps and ideal responses crafted for your specific situation: https://tenantpowertoolkit.org/?gad_source=1
  4. Tenants Together: Tenants Together offers a number of solid resources, including a tenant hotline, sample templates to send to landlords for a variety of circumstances, and a local resource directory: https://www.tenantstogether.org/ 
  5. Dispute resolution: The Marin County Consumer Protection Unit provides non-binding mediation services for tenants and landlords: https://www.marincountyda.org/service/mediation