In Point Reyes, the opportunities for affordable housing are few and far between, so there's a lot of excitement about the prospect of some old Coast Guard housing being made available soon. But just because the need is urgent, doesn't mean the system is working quickly to make it happen.

There are no high-rise affordable housing complexes in Pt. Reyes, and no one is stepping forward to build one.  

"The fact is, the people who live there, the people who keep the community going, were not able to live there," said Marin Community Development Director Sarah Jones. "So, we're talking about a much smaller number of units but we really need to get units in these locations."

In March, Jones appeared before the Board of Supervisors, as they declared a housing emergency for the area.

"We have known that there is a need for affordable housing in this area for a long time," said Jones. "But the urgency, the focus on it, has increased significantly in the past year."

That's because next year a lawsuit settlement will kick in, closing the cattle ranches and turning about 100 workers out onto the streets. At the March meeting, the workers and their advocates appealed to the board for help and among them was Pt. Reyes Station resident Mark Switzer, for whom it was a matter of conscience.

"I am a landowner, and I have been an entitled, complacent resident of Pt. Reyes Station," he said, his voice choked with emotion. "I'm ashamed and appalled by the situation we're in."

On Monday, Switzer reflected on that meeting four months ago.

"No one from the landed gentry was there to say, I've been so goddamned, excuse me, so complacent about this," he said.  "And that's the truth. We live here, the sun shines. All's good. But it's not!"

There is good news for Pt. Reyes. The former Coast Guard housing has just cleared a regulatory hurdle to be turned into affordable housing. There is a lot of work to do to rehabilitate the old buildings, but there hasn't been a lot of urgency in the process.

The county purchased the property from the federal government clear back in 2018, but so far, nothing has been built or renovated. The problem is that the complex has no septic system for wastewater. That and other problems have made progress on the project slow going.

"Well, I think the sense of the community is frustration and confusion of why it's so difficult," said Switzer.

That was the feeling of Scott and Nancy Stine as they strolled past the empty houses.

"Yeah, certainly moving slowly, wouldn't you say," said Scott.  "Or not at all, I mean, we see no change down here."

The fact is nobody is doing anything wrong there. The county and its partners are following the rules, all of them well intended, and all of them acting as a roadblock to getting anything done.

"Whether it's asbestos or lead paint or whatever it was." said Switzer.  

But did he think those things would matter to someone living on the street in a tent.

"They don't. You're right, they don't," he said. "The layers of complications, regulations, you can rationalize any one of them. But we're not prepared to say, 'this has got to change. We've got to make this work. We have to start over in our thinking.'"

"This piece of affordable housing has been neglected for far too long there by all of us together," said Jones. "And there's a very shared understanding how important this is to address."

Now that the project has been cleared of environmental impacts, it can begin the funding process, which Jones said is the most difficult hurdle to overcome.

There's no telling how long that will take. Everyone agrees that it's taken too long already, just as they agree about the severity of the problem. But so far, the process has been done by the book, rather than as a matter of conscience.