Preserving Community Through Crisis
Our Commitment to Ensuring Housing Stability for Displaced Families in West Marin
West Marin stands at an extraordinary crossroads, one where our choices and decisions today have the potential to shape the landscape of this region and its people long into the future. In this pivotal moment we have an opportunity to forge an approach to affordable housing that can stabilize the situation in West Marin, reimagine the possibilities here, and transform how rural communities everywhere approach similar challenges.
BACKGROUND: How Did We Get Here?
Our region is facing a housing crisis that is decades-long in the making. A number of powerful forces have converged to create a “perfect storm” that is forcing out many of our residents:
Lack of affordable housing
For years, Marin County has fallen short of its affordable housing targets mandated by the State of California. Decades of racist and exclusionary residential policies and practices combined with restrictive land-use policies have limited the development of affordable housing and driven up prices.
According to the state’s mandate, Marin County is responsible for adding 14,210 units of housing by January 2031, including 3,569 in unincorporated areas like West Marin. Of those, 1,100 units must serve households earning less than $65,000/year. As of December 2024, progress towards these goals is only 5% - 11%, depending on income level.
Permitting and infrastructure challenges
West Marin has an abundance of land and large-lot homes that are, in theory, ideally suited for creating housing. Yet vast swaths of the region have been dedicated for parks and agriculture and protected from development. And it’s become excessively expensive to rehabilitate and build new housing in West Marin due to stringent permitting restrictions and the high costs of ensuring water and septic systems are up to par. Residential developments in areas governed by the California Coastal Commission, regulating nine West Marin communities and over 80,000 acres, are subject to additional limitations and discretionary permits, adding time, costs, and barriers to development.
Ranch closures and displaced workers
As a result of the January 2025 settlement by three environmental groups and the National Park Service, 12 ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore will close by early 2026. Other ranch closures are imminent as county inspections have exposed substandard and unsafe housing conditions on these properties. These ranches have housed scores of service workers and family members who will lose their longtime homes, and in many cases, their livelihoods. These residents — nearly all Latino and low-income — have lived or worked in West Marin for generations. They are central to our communal fabric, and without alternatives, they will be forced to leave.
The closure of ranches and displacement of community members has brought the situation in West Marin to an inflection point. More than 150 residents are experiencing homelessness or are at imminent risk of losing their homes. The ripple effects extend far beyond individual families: local businesses will lose customers and workers, schools face declining enrollment, and we risk losing the agricultural heritage and cultural diversity that define our region's character.
TOWARD STABILITY: Emergency Response with Permanent Vision
CLAM, together with three neighboring community land trusts that form the West Marin Housing Collaborative, are meeting this moment with urgency and strategic foresight. Our approach to strengthening housing stability in West Marin integrates both crisis response and long-term planning. Every housing solution we develop is designed to serve displaced families immediately while laying the foundation for permanent affordable housing that will benefit our community for generations.
As a result of the January 2025 settlement by three environmental groups and the National Park Service, 12 ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore will close by early 2026. Other ranch closures are imminent as county inspections have exposed substandard and unsafe housing conditions on these properties. These ranches have housed scores of service workers and family members who will lose their longtime homes, and in many cases, their livelihoods. These residents — nearly all Latino and low-income — have lived or worked in West Marin for generations. They are central to our communal fabric, and without alternatives, they will be forced to leave.
In partnership with Marin County, we are leveraging the County's Shelter Crisis Declaration — a unique pathway that streamlines permitting for housing solutions while ensuring community oversight and responsible stewardship of public and philanthropic resources. This allows us to move with extraordinary speed to address the urgency of the moment.
Our work is supported by aligned funding partners — Marin Community Foundation, West Marin Fund, and generous individual donors — who understand that true housing stability requires sustained investment, not one-time interventions. Together, we are developing innovative financing models that combine public resources, private philanthropy, and community land trust expertise to create housing solutions that would be impossible through any single approach.
West Marin Housing Collaborative
Community land trusts, like CLAM, offer an innovative option for addressing West Marin’s housing “perfect storm” and accelerating the creation of safe, stable, and affordable housing. Key to our success in the region is our collaboration with other area community land trusts. Over the last 25 years, West Marin's CLTs have collectively built 100 units of affordable housing.
With funding support from West Marin Fund and Marin Community Foundation, the West Marin Housing Collaborative was formed in 2022. CLAM serves as the lead community land trust for the Collaborative, which includes three other CLTs: Bolinas Community Land Trust (BCLT), Stinson Beach Affordable Housing Committee, and Two Valleys Community Land Trust. The Collaborative shares knowledge and resources and coordinates responses to housing needs throughout the region and is poised to accelerate the growth of affordable housing in our region tenfold in the coming years.
Prioritizing efforts to house families facing displacement
The families that are facing immediate displacement due to ranch closures and county-condemned housing conditions are creating an urgent humanitarian need. Of greatest urgency is the need to ensure housing for roughly 90 individuals who are currently living on the Martinelli and National Parks ranches.
We are prioritizing displaced ranch families not out of charity, but out of recognition that these are community members who have contributed to West Marin for decades. They have earned the right to remain in the place they have helped build.
Together with our partners, we have several interim housing initiatives underway, all of which are aimed at serving these families:
6th and B Lot: CLAM is currently in negotiations with Marin County to operate a County-owned emergency housing shelter for families at this location. This one-acre site is part of an initiative to deploy 10 - 16 high-quality homes on wheels that could provide dignified living spaces for displaced families for up to 5 years. We'll develop site infrastructure — septic, utilities, road access — that serves both the interim housing and future permanent affordable housing development.
2nd Street: CLAM recently acquired a 3-unit property in Point Reyes Station in a below-market-rate sale, with additional help in the form of a low-interest loan from the seller. CLAM was able to retain the existing tenant and offer a highly affordable rental rate. The remaining 2 units are being rented out to 2 displaced families at deeply affordable rates.
West Marin Community Rentals Program: CLAM and the West Marin Housing Collaborative have launched a program to help local homeowners rent existing units or create new housing — such as ADUs or tiny homes — for local workers and families. The program makes it easier for homeowners to be part of the housing solution while benefiting from support, guidance, and potential financial resources to ensure a smooth rental process. Interested homeowners can contact CLAM for information on how to get involved.
Neighbors-for-Neighbors: West Marin Fund is spearheading a community-based initiative where individuals or families in West Marin open their homes to those experiencing housing instability or displacement. Hosts provide a safe, supportive environment, offering temporary or medium-term no-cost housing while guests work toward long-term stability, such as securing permanent housing, finding employment, or meeting other critical needs. To get involved as a host or guest, contact Loretta Murphy at West Marin Fund.
Through partnerships with West Marin Community Services, Familias Afectadas del Rancho (FAR), and the Coalition for Housing All Workers and Their Families (CHAWTF), we are working to ensure that our housing solutions reflect the needs and voices of the families we serve.
MEETING THE MOMENT: Scaling partnerships and investment
CLAM and the West Marin Housing Collaborative’s interim housing initiatives represent the beginning, not the end, of West Marin's housing transformation. Our community needs approximately 1,000 new affordable housing units over the next decade to address the region’s housing needs. This will require a significant and coordinated investment of funding to lay the foundation for the growth and acceleration of affordable housing in the region.
Yet, this larger vision depends entirely on keeping our current community intact. The families facing displacement today are the teachers, healthcare workers, and service providers who will occupy and support the permanent housing we build tomorrow.
This work succeeds because it is rooted in authentic partnership — with displaced families, with aligned funders, with county government, and with neighbors throughout West Marin who understand that true community includes everyone.
Join us in being part of creating the solutions our region needs. Together, we are not just providing temporary shelter; we are preserving the heart of West Marin itself while building the foundation for lasting housing stability.