Marin Housing Authority moves closer to Golden Gate Village revamp

The county has taken another step toward rehabilitating the dilapidated Golden Gate Village public housing complex in Marin City.

Marin Housing Authority commissioners voted 6-1 on Tuesday to submit a request to convert the complex from the federal government’s public housing program to a new funding method that would ensure that 90% of the 296 apartments are funded through Section 8 project-based vouchers.

“Project-based” vouchers are assigned to specific apartments, rather than issued to tenants to use at whatever qualifying apartment they choose.

The change is part of a larger plan, approved by commissioners in 2022, to raise $330 million to pay for improvements at the 60-year-old complex. The plan calls for creating a limited partnership to purchase the buildings and land from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The housing authority will be the general partner.

HUD is encouraging transitions of this type because of a national backlog of public housing repair needs. The estimated cost of the repairs is $90 billion.

“This application to HUD is necessary so that the capital that’s been identified can be used to renovate the project,” Mike Andrews, a housing expert hired by HUD to advise the housing authority, told commissioners.

The conversion to project-based Section 8 vouchers will allow the Marin Housing Authority to partner with private investors to finance debt and access other funds.

Nevertheless, during public open time at the meeting, several Golden Gate Village residents asked commissioners to delay filing the application.

“I’m really pleading with you humbly to not allow this application to be submitted,” said Beverly Freeman, “so that the residents can have a chance to learn more about it.”

“We need time,” said Mary Luz Arredondo. “We have a lot of questions.”

Sharon Hayes, a member of the Golden Gate Village resident council, said, “There are so many questions. What’s being said is not always what happens. We’ve seen this through history. We want the things that are being said to us in writing so everybody can be held accountable.”

Residents’ fear of eviction helped sink a previous redevelopment plan, which envisioned the construction of some new affordable housing in Marin City as well as reconstruction to help finance repairs of Golden Gate Village.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Andrews reaffirmed what Marin Housing Authority officials have been telling residents for years.

“No residents will lose their housing because of this renovation,” he said.

Andrews noted that HUD has announced its plans to reduce funding next year for the type of conversion Golden Gate Village is applying for.

“So submitting this application now helps preserve that higher amount,” he said.

As public housing tenants, Golden Gate Village residents are required to pay no more than 30% of their income for their housing. Andrews said that won’t change following the transition to Section 8 project-based vouchers.

What will change is the maximum income that residents at the complex will be allowed to earn. Currently, that is capped at 80% of the area median income (AMI) for Marin County, which for a family of four is $156,640.

Following the switch to Section 8 project-based vouchers, the maximum allowable income will be lowered to 50% of AMI, which is $107,480 for a family of four.

“So the project will actually become more affordable and more restricted through this conversion,” Andrews said.

Currently, Andrews said, the highest average income of Golden Gate residents is just 20% of AMI, while the lowest average income is 10% of AMI.

“So you can see the reported income of current residents at Golden Gate Village is very low,” he said.

There is a potential downside for some Golden Gate Village residents. The occupancy standards for public housing and the housing choice voucher program are different. As a result, some Golden Gate Village residents who live in three- and four-bedroom apartments would be newly classified, through no fault of their own, as being “overhoused” when the switch to the voucher system occurs.

Overhoused means that people are living in apartments that are larger than they need based on the number of occupants.

In 2021, HUD notified the Marin authority that 72 households at the complex were overhoused. Many of those households involved seniors whose bedroom needs declined as their children grew and moved out.

Following the meeting on Tuesday, Kimberly Carroll, the authority’s executive director, said the number of overhoused residents has since been reduced to about 30. A shortage of one-bedroom apartments at the complex makes it impossible to resolve the problem immediately. Carroll said if the switch to Section 8 project-based vouchers occurred tomorrow, the number would likely shoot back up to 70 households.

Carroll said no resident will be forced to leave Golden Gate Village because of the overhousing issue. She said HUD permits overhoused residents to remain in their apartments until an appropriately sized apartment becomes available, no matter how long it takes.

Carroll said HUD also gives the Marin Housing Authority considerable latitude in granting exceptions. The authority may create exceptions to occupancy standards based on age, sex, health, handicap, the relationship of family members or other special circumstances.

Carrol said it is possible that some overhoused residents might be required to move into smaller apartments if they don’t qualify for an exception.

Andrews said that to be assured a right of return, residents would also need to be “in good standing.”

“Good standing basically means that you’re compliant with your lease,” Andrews said. “You’re paying your rent. You’re not engaging in any activity that is adverse or harmful to your neighbors or damaging to the property.”

Carroll said Thursday that about 30% of the residents at Golden Gate Village owe back rent.

“Some just a month or two and some with many months of non-payment,” Carrol wrote in an email. “Our staff will be scheduling one-on-one meetings to help all residents get in compliance with their lease, we will be providing support in completing any recertification to household income or composition that would affect the rent, offer repayment agreements, offer agencies to support with back rent and include the contact information for Legal Aid.”