Marin Voice: Fund affordable housing now to keep families close

I’ve always been someone who likes to plan. As I handed in my last final exam of my second year at college, I had a chilling realization. I was halfway through college and I had no idea where I would be after I graduated.

Panic set in. What am I working toward? Where do I want to end up?

In this wave of sudden distress and unsureness, the possibility of moving back to Marin and living near my family never crossed my mind — not because I desired to move far away, but rather I knew that, due to the extreme housing costs in Marin, I will likely never be able to afford to live in my hometown independently.

My family moved here from Oakland seeking good public schools, as well as natural beauty and open spaces. In the nine years since, Marin has truly become our home.

I hope Marin can continue to be my home as I grow into an adult, but that seems nearly impossible – barring marriage to a multi-millionaire, the discovery that I am heiress to a grand fortune or buying a winning lottery ticket. As fortunate as these events would be, I should not need millionaire aspirations to be given the opportunity to return to the place I grew up.

Without affordable housing options, I, and many other young Marin residents, will be forced to live separately from their families, even if we have chosen traditionally lucrative careers.

Allowing for multiple generations of families to live and grow in one place can have great positive impacts on the community. Some of the parents of my closest friends grew up in Marin, and their connections and impact on the community were evident. One year, I went trick-or-treating with my best friend, who is a third-generation resident. It took us several hours to make it all the way around the block because nearly every household knew my friend’s parents or grandparents. They all wanted to stop and chat.

At the time, I was impatient, and a little jealous of my friend’s connections, and now I can see how it is evidence of a beautiful, well-connected community. This type of community, whether found through familial connections or multi-generational friendships, is incredibly important when it comes to child care.

In areas where the cost of housing isn’t so high and aging populations are not priced out by a lack of downsizing options, working families often depend on grandparents and other family members for child care. Without access to sufficient school buses or after-school programs, parents in Marin, including my own, turned to hiring help — adding another layer of mental and financial stress to raising children in our expensive county.

The solution is housing, especially affordable housing. Young people like me cannot return to Marin without a change in the status quo. Marin’s housing situation is uniquely difficult, as it has one of the highest costs of living and decades of the lowest housing production in California. Marin lacks an adequate supply of housing to support its population, driving housing prices to extremes and forcing teachers, doctors, lawyers and service workers — some who are natives — out of Marin.

Adding affordable housing structures will allow the things people love about Marin — the community and neighborhood charm — to stay authentic for years to come. Housing is the top issue for Marin voters, marking a major shift in the public opinion. Marin residents have fought housing for decades, but a shift in public opinion is not enough to fix our current situation. We need funding — far more than what the state allotts — in order to address the housing need in Marin.

Neither the state, nor the federal government offers sufficient funding for our needs. While there are affordable housing projects in progress in Marin, they are insufficient in fully addressing the housing crisis. We need to build much more to create the Marin that I dream of — a Marin that is more than just a place to grow up or relocate. It is a county that has the potential to sustain generations of history, support and connections.

Abby Shewmaker, of Tiburon, is a 2022 graduate of Redwood High School. She studies history and communications at the University of California, Los Angeles.