The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority has signed off on a preservation deal that locks in long-term affordability at the Meridian, a 99-unit apartment complex in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood. Under the agreement, the owner will convert at least 60 apartments into deed-restricted affordable homes and cap monthly rents. Tenants and advocates say the move could mean immediate rent cuts for some households, along with a dedicated stream of funding for long-needed repairs paid for through program savings.
BAHFA Signs Off, City Lines Up Behind Deal
In late December, the authority approved a Welfare Tax Exemption Preservation Program application for the Meridian, putting long-term rent limits and tenant protections in place, according to the Marin Independent Journal. The program is administered by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, the regional housing arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which focuses on keeping at-risk apartments affordable rather than tearing them down and starting over. Documents from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission lay out BAHFA’s preservation priorities and recent awards around the Bay Area.
What Renters Will Pay And What Is Protected
The initial phase converts at least 60 units and sets rent caps for the restricted apartments, with studios at about $2,003 and one-bedrooms around $2,250. Two-bedrooms are capped between roughly $2,880 and $3,105, and three-bedrooms top out near $3,603, according to the Marin Independent Journal. Under BAHFA’s terms, affordability must be pegged either to 80 percent of area median income or 10 percent below market, whichever comes in lower, and yearly rent hikes on restricted apartments are limited to 4 percent or less. Preservation staff at BAHFA said that framework will translate into immediate rent relief for some current residents.
The authority also said that savings created by the program will be dedicated to roughly $3.8 million in upgrades over the next 20 years, including elevator, walkway and electrical work, plus new windows and a roof replacement. For tenants who have spent years asking for basic fixes, that repair budget is part of the attraction.
Tenants React After Years Of Pressure
Residents in the Canal neighborhood have been pushing for protections since Tesseract Capital bought the Meridian in 2022 and started asking tenants to relocate during renovation work, local reporting shows. Longtime renters and union organizers welcomed the new preservation deal as a bulwark against displacement, saying it secures return rights and finally attaches dedicated funding to the repairs they have been demanding.
Earlier coverage by SFGATE documented the tenant union’s protests, so-called “buy-out” letters and mediation efforts that unfolded before the application went to the regional program.
Owner’s Stance And Next Steps
Tesseract representatives submitted the BAHFA application in October and said the program offered a way to work with residents, the tenants’ union and the city to preserve affordability while completing repairs, according to company and tenant-union correspondence. City housing officials had previously sent a letter backing the application as local leaders weighed how to protect residents in a county where rents routinely push households to the brink. The mayor and city housing staff underscored how costly Marin County’s rental market has become…