CLAM Project Fund
Since CLAM’s founding in 2001, housing prices in West Marin have risen dramatically while wages have remained static. The escalation is exacerbated by housing scarcity in an area constrained by adjacent public and agricultural lands, and limited sites for new construction. Tourism and the COVID-19 pandemic have also greatly impacted the housing stock. The boom in the short-term rental industry has caused many property owners to convert long term rental homes into vacation rentals. The large-scale shift toward remote work means that workers earning far beyond local wages are moving away from urban centers, having a negative influence on the housing stock in places like West Marin by encouraging higher listing prices.
As a result of these compounding factors, West Marin’s essential workers – caregivers, retail workers, first responders, teachers, agricultural workers, and restaurant employees – are priced out of both rental and homeownership options.
The problem has a ripple effect. Housing instability can damage children’s well-being, development, and performance in school. The social fabric is frayed when long-term renters are forced to leave as their rental housing is sold in an escalating market. Local business owners struggle to find employees who can afford to live in the area. And long commutes of workers to West Marin businesses increase our carbon footprint, having negative impacts on the environment.
Older adults are increasingly affected as well. Half of West Marin residents are over 65, and many find themselves “house rich and cash poor,” unable to keep up with maintenance demands of their properties. As a result, many have no option but to sell and move away from the place they call home.
CLAM’s Response
Jose and Jocelyn Chevarria (will correct spelling)
The Community Land Trust Association of West Marin (CLAM) was created in 2001 with the belief that quality, affordable homes are essential elements of a vibrant, diverse community. As a community land trust, CLAM takes land and housing out of the speculative real estate market and holds it “in trust” to serve as a long-term community asset for housing people.
CLAM is uniquely suited to address the lack of affordable homes in West Marin. In its 20-year span, CLAM has created nearly 50 affordable homes, helped pass local housing measures, successfully lobbied for housing at the federal level, and shifted the public perception of affordable housing in Marin County. CLAM has had great success creating and stewarding affordable homes, but now faces a challenge: we have picked all the low-hanging fruit. To move quickly in a competitive housing market, CLAM must have a pool of available funds.
In 2023, CLAM launched a $2 million Project Fund to fund new housing opportunities and to complete the creation of four units in downtown Point Reyes Station.
What is Affordable?
Marin’s housing is so expensive that a family of four with an income of $149,100 qualifies as low income by HUD standards. Yet this figure far exceeds the income of the average West Marin worker. CLAM sets rents based on what workers in West Marin can afford. For example, a Palace Market employee working full-time at $20 an hour can afford $1,153 in rent. A local nonprofit worker and an entry-level teacher, both working full time at around $28.5 an hour, can together afford $3,236 in rent. CLAM sets rents in accordance with local wages like these.
What CLAM Does
CLAM removes homes from the speculative real estate market and stewards them as permanently affordable homes for lower-income residents who are struggling to afford local housing costs. CLAM uses a variety of approaches to create affordable homes. As a community land trust (CLT), CLAM creates opportunities for homeownership wherein homeowners own their homes and lease the land under it from CLAM. CLAM also creates below-market rentals and retained life estates and assists with co-ownership purchases.
CLAM raises funds to create affordable homes from a variety of sources, including community members and individuals who spend time here but live elsewhere, from foundations, county programs (like Measure W), and state grants (like the Housing Trust Fund). The generosity of our community cannot be overstated and is the main driver of our success to date.
Currently, CLAM has 20 rentals in properties it owns and two homeownership homes; in addition, CLAM’s Real Community Rentals program has supported the creation of 25 more affordable rentals owned by West Marin homeowners, assisting them to configure space in their homes and find appropriate renters.
One major solution to West Marin’s housing shortage will be the addition of 54 units of housing in the former Coast Guard neighborhood, a project CLAM has been stewarding since the mid-2010s. Due to regulatory hurdles, it is likely that the homes will not be ready for occupancy until 2027. In addition, because of funding restrictions, housing in this neighborhood will be rental only. The Coast Guard housing project will be funded primarily by institutional funding from low-income tax credits and affordable housing bonds.
Project Fund Goal
CLAM residents Angela & Melissa Mota signing their lease
CLAM’s Project Fund seeks to raise $2 million for two key areas:
1) To support the costs of acquisition and renovation of 35 and 60 Third Street and the creation of second units at each property, creating four units of affordable housing that will be available in 2023 and 2024.
2) To create a cash fund so that it can move quickly when other promising properties become available. With its history of real estate contacts and the reach of its board members, CLAM is well-positioned to learn of properties coming on the market. Ready access to funds is essential in order to compete for acquisition in a fierce real estate market. The plan is to begin a seed fund in order to have this flexibility, bringing the Project Fund goal to a total of $2 million.
The member-elected board of directors is made up of community members and CLT residents. Many CLTs opt for a tripartite (three-part) board structure to ensure a balance of interests from the community the CLT serves.
CLAM’s Board of Directors follows a tripartite (three-part) structure:
One-third of the board members are residents of the CLT properties
One-third are residents from the local community
One-third are local stakeholders or experts, generally consisting of public officials, community leaders, nonprofit workers, and other individuals presumed to speak for the public interest and having specific skills to benefit the CLT
Community land trusts are about people. That means YOU! Your participation and support—financial and otherwise—are key to CLAM’s success. Check out the Support Us tab at the top of the page for other ways you can contribute to CLAM.
Members of our Fundraising and Communications Committee include Pamela Wright, Kathy Hunting, Kerry Livingston, Jelani Bertoni and Elvia Xaxni.
Fact Sheets and Gift Charts
The community land trust movement has emerged from a long and fascinating American conversation about the intersection between land ownership and social equity.
To learn more about the visionaries and innovators who laid the groundwork for today’s CLT’s, visit Roots and Branches: A Gardener’s Guide to the Evolution of the Community Land Trust.
CLAM is a member of the Bay Area Consortium of Community Land Trusts, working to address affordability challenges along with these other organizations:
Oakland Community Land Trust
Northern California Land Trust
San Francisco Community Land Trust
Bay Area Community Land Trust
Housing Land Trust of Sonoma
We are also a member of the West Marin Housing Collaborative, a joint effort of Bolinas Community Land Trust, Stinson Beach Affordable Housing Committee, San Geronimo Valley Affordable Housing Association, and CLAM.
There are also community land trusts located in other rural, natural areas that have similar challenges to West Marin:
Island Housing Trust (Mount Desert, Maine)
Jackson Hole Housing Trust (Jackson, Wyoming)
Lopez Community Land Trust (Lopez Island, Washington)
Madison Area Community Land Trust (Troy Gardens, Wisconsin)
Opal Community Land Trust (Orcas Island, Washington)
At the forefront of community land trusts in the U.S. is Champlain Housing Trust. Located in Burlington Vermont, this is one of the earliest and now most extensive community land trusts, creating homes in both rural and urban areas.