As many counties in California continue to make strides towards creating more affordable housing, Marin is still lagging in its efforts. California is a tapestry of 58 counties, spanning rural mountain forests to dense downtowns. Each community is unique, but the need to build housing is universal — and California has underproduced housing for 40 years. As a recent New York Times article succinctly put it: “California’s housing crisis is well documented and severe.”
Having spent the better part of two decades in the trenches of the State’s housing wars, I have seen the devastating outcomes of this, first hand. My first foray into housing politics was while growing up in the wealthy city of Palo Alto. I watched as the local government systematically made it harder for new people to move in, and quickly learned the power municipalities had to shape a community, for better or for worse. Today, I live in San Francisco, while my whole family still lives in the Bay Area — for me, this is home. So when I started in politics, fresh out of grad school two decades ago, there was no other place I wanted to work than in the California government. I chose to pursue a career in public service to shape communities for the better.
During my first 10 years in government, I worked for a number of San Francisco Mayors, watching as the city struggled to balance its progressive values with a regressive, exclusionary housing apparatus. We were supposed to be the good guys, building a diverse, inclusive city where everyone could find a place. Put that in contrast with Marin, which for decades insulated itself from the housing crisis by virtue of the county’s geography, wealth and political clout…