San Rafael has approved $600,000 in allocations to three nonprofits in support of their affordable housing projects in the city.
The total outlay from the city’s affordable housing trust fund is $100,000 more than what staff initially recommended. The City Council agreed to kick in the extra money after hearing moving testimony from the applicants.
The Marin Foster Care Association applied for a $250,000 grant to help pay back a $700,000 loan that supported the $2.1 million acquisition of six apartments on Park Street. The deed-restricted apartments are being offered with support services to young adults who aged out of foster care. Three apartments are occupied.
After review, city staff recommended a $150,000 award to the nonprofit. That amount equals a $25,000-per-apartment city subsidy, which is significantly higher than the other awards, staff said.
Marin Foster Care Association leaders, foster parents and children urged the council to fully fund the $250,000 request.
“Foster youth are our most vulnerable population,” said Carolyn Flannery, a board member of the nonprofit. “Unlike other groups, they have no families to fall back on, no safety net. They’re our responsibility,”
Flannery is the founder of Make It Home, a nonprofit that provides used furniture to foster youths and formerly homeless people.
“This project is move-in ready. It’s housing kids today, not years from now,” Flannery said. “I respectfully urge you to allocate the full $250,000 requested by Marin Foster Care. These young people can’t wait.”
Ashley Hurd, executive director of the Marin Foster Care Association, said it is difficult for young people with no family support to secure housing, and often they have to leave the county.
“And they go far and they have to start their adulthood life in a place that they have no idea what it’s about,” Hurd said. “Our model is working. The building is fully operational. … With our program, the city is investing in something that’s already in place and producing outcomes.”
The testimony led Jon White, a real estate officer at Abode Housing Development, to offer half of the organization’s expected $200,000 award to the Marin Foster Care Association.
Abode is in an agreement with the city to build a six-story complex with 56 low-income apartments and support services for formerly homeless residents on a city-owned lot at 519 Fourth St. It applied for a $200,000 city grant to support planning entitlement for its $54 million project.
City staff had recommended granting the full request.
However, White said the Abode project will be a few years in the making.
“Our money is needed, but it’s not needed now,” White said. “These guys seem like they need it now, so I would ask that you would fully fund their project and fund us at $100,000.”
City Manager Cristine Alilovich commended White “for his generosity and real-time heartfelt consideration of partnering and supporting” the foster care organization.
“In my 25 years of service, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that sort of gesture,” Alilovich said.
City staff told the council it could choose to accept that offer and reduce the award to Abode in order to give another $100,000 to the Marin Foster Care Association. Staff said, though, that the city has enough cash in the affordable housing trust fund to award the two nonprofits their requested amounts.
Alexis Captanian, the city’s housing manager, said a developer of a townhome project recently paid an in-lieu fee that could be used to cover the extra expense.
In-lieu fees are what developers of market-rate housing pay instead of building below-market-rate homes. Developers of certain types of commercial buildings also pay into the fund.
Vice Mayor Maribeth Bushey said she was concerned because the city’s notice of funding availability advertised that up to $500,000 was on the table.
“How can we possibly unilaterally at the last minute increase it to $600,000, and do we want to set this precedent?” Bushey asked staff.
Captanian said the notice language does give city officials the flexibility to increase or reduce the amount. In fact, in 2023, the council chose to award $50,000 over an advertised amount, she said.
The council unanimously voted to increase the amount to $600,000.
The other applicant and recipient is EAH Housing. The nonprofit applied for $500,000 to rehabilitate its 28-apartment complex at 455 Canal St., a low-income site. City staff recommended $150,000 for the $2 million project.
