Marin County supervisors pass shelter crisis declaration to help Point Reyes ranchers
Ranch workers in Point Reyes National Seashore, who are destined to lose their jobs and homes within a year following a new land management plan by the National Park Service, received some hope for relief from the Marin County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
In January, the National Park Service announced an agreement to end commercial cattle operations on 12 ranches in the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. On Tuesday, Marin County Supervisors, adopted measures to help the 100 workers who will be displaced from their homes when the closures occur. The idea is to allow more emergency housing, something even the county said was long overdue.
The small town of Pt. Reyes Station doesn't have the same homelessness problem as in the big city, but in some ways the housing shortage is even more acute. Now the closure of the nearby ranches is managing to bring that problem home to a lot of people.
With the vote in favor by the supervisors, the board chambers erupted into cheers and applause. It's not every day that a change to the county building code draws that kind of reaction, but the housing situation in West Marin is something that many residents simply haven't thought much about over the years.
"I am a landowner, and I have been an entitled, complacent resident of Pt. Reyes Station," said homeowner Mark Switzer. "And I am ashamed and appalled by the situation we're in."
The situation is that about 100 low-wage workers have been living in what the county says are substandard conditions because they simply can't afford what little housing is available in the area.
"People have been living in very poor conditions for decades, in some cases," said Sarah Jones, director of the Marin Community Development Department. She said it felt like her hands were tied for a long time.
"My department can't issue a permit for something that's not a very expensive structure, very difficult to build, very difficult to approve, that is on a permanent foundation," said Jones.
As a result, the county has not been able to build emergency housing like you may see in bigger cities because of its own rules. Supervisors heard from some workers who have kept quiet for a long time. Gabriel Romo is a restaurant worker who actually lives on one of the ranches that will be closed.
"I have lived in Pt. Reyes my entire life," he told the supervisors. "I know of no other home than my community. This displacement will be affecting the many fine people that walked in with me, as well as many, many others. And we recognize the extent this will affect our community."
And though he doesn't speak English, the emotion in Enrique Hernandez's voice was understandable to all.
"We live under a tremendous amount of tension and pressure," Hernandez said through a translator. "I am a family man. I am a father to a son with an extreme disability. Is this life? What will happen to us and what will happen to the ones that will follow us?"
In the end, the board recognized the problem by approving a three-year urgency ordinance that will suspend or relax building and zoning codes to allow the construction of temporary, emergency housing.
"I takes away a lot of the rules, the regulations, that we have that actually prevent putting solutions into place," said Jones.
Tuesday's emergency ordinance applies only to the unincorporated areas of Marin County. But County Executive Derek Johnson said he would be contacting the various cities to see if they would be willing to adopt the same measures.
As the ranches close in the next 12 months, the county figures it will need an immediate 100 units of affordable housing in an area where almost none are available right now. The county has no plan to build anything itself, but they figured it was time to get out of the way of those who might.
