Dick Spotswood: Marin should put focus on more workforce housing
It’s the only method to decrease traffic congestion while increasing the quality of life for teachers, public safety officers and retail and hospitality workers.
Marin roads are clogged even though commute hours have shifted. The old morning “rush hour” isn’t as intense. Given that more people are working from home two days a week, midday intercounty traffic has increased. The evening commute starting at 3 p.m. remains a miserable slog.
Where this traffic comes from tells a story and poses a quandary.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 82,000 workers live and are employed within Marin.
California’s Department of Employment indicates on average weekdays, 46,000 commute into Marin County by all modes. Simultaneously, 43,000 Marin residents commute to out-of-county jobs.
Available labor market statistics from the state of California reflect the mobility before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the numbers have fluctuated since then, the origin-and-destination percentage should remain proportional to the pre-COVID commute.
The inbound commute is propelled by those who would prefer to live and work in Marin. Good jobs are the attraction. These folks are forced to commute as they can’t afford to live near where they work due to the high cost of buying or renting Marin homes. This is the only aspect of the home-to-work trip that can be mitigated.
The online real estate app Zillow indicates that in 2024, the average price of a Marin single-family home is $1.5 million. Compare that to our neighboring counties: Sonoma $814,000, Solano $592,494, Contra Costa $837,097, Alameda $1.15 million, and San Francisco $1.3 million.
It’s why many Bay Area workers make the insane commute to intensely hot Stockton. There, the average cost of a single-family home is $444,666.
The largest source of in-bound commuters is from Sonoma County with about 16,000 traveling to Marin places of employment by auto, bus or SMART. The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge sees about 12,000 coming into Marin in the morning peak period from Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The Highway 37 Vallejo-Novato corridor sees 4,300 motorists originating in Solano County plus 1,100 from Napa.
Labor market statistics indicate 6,800 San Franciscans cross the Golden Gate corridor to work in Marin, and 900 from San Mateo County. Amazingly, 475 exhausted motorists arrive from Sacramento and 275 from greater Stockton.
A good part of peak-period traffic comes from the 43,886 Marin residents who travel out of the county to their place of employment. The Marin-San Francisco commute has been a defining feature since the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. Before that, electric trains and ferries made traveling to the City by the Bay a widespread habit.
On average, 27,000 Marinites commute to San Francisco at least three days a week, 4,000 head north Sonoma, 4,000 go to Alameda County, 1,900 to Contra Costa, 2,400 to San Mateo and Silicon Valley sees 1,000. There’s also a good number of college-age students who travel to and from colleges in Sonoma, Marin and the City.
Marin residents face a choice: perpetually deal with jammed Highway 101 and lateral access streets (including Sir Francis Drake Boulevard), or build workforce housing. The latter option is the only way to decrease traffic congestion since a wholesale shift to transit or cycling is unfortunately a pipedream.
Marin should concentrate on building new workforce housing, not market-rate homes priced over a million dollars. It’s the only method to decrease traffic congestion while increasing the quality of life for teachers, public safety officers and retail and hospitality workers.
***
Three North Bay Republican leaders are traveling to the GOP National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All of California’s 169 Republican convention delegates are pledged to Donald Trump, who prevailed in the Golden State’s winner-take-all March Republican Party primary.
Leading the North Bay delegation is longtime Marin Republican Central Committee Vice Chair Tom Montgomery of San Rafael. Heading with him to the July 15-18 “Beer Capital of the World” conclave is Fairfax’s Kevin Krick and Tiburon’s Mike Columbo.
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.