Marin supervisors have approved the issuance of up to $50 million in tax-exempt bonds to help finance the first phase of the rehabilitation of Golden Gate Village in Marin City.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis really is a watershed moment,\u201d said Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, whose district includes Marin City. \u201cIt\u2019s another step in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The public housing project provides low-income housing to more than 700 residents in eight high-rise and 20 low-rise buildings. Designed in 1957 by a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1961, the buildings are badly in need of repair because of age and a lack of maintenance stemming from inadequate federal funding over the years.<\/p>\n
The supervisors were asked on Tuesday to approve the issuance of the bonds by the California Municipal Finance Authority, a joint powers agency of some 350 California counties, cities and special districts. The authority assists local governments, nonprofits and businesses with the issuance of taxable and tax-exempt financing. Marin County is one of the authority\u2019s members.<\/p>\n
Federal law requires that the elected representatives in the jurisdictions where projects are located certify that the projects will constitute a public benefit. Assistant County Executive Dan Eilerman told supervisors there was no question about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is all about affordable housing,\u201d Eilerman said, \u201cpreserving and revitalizing historically significant buildings and keeping people in their homes safely and sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee reserved $76 million in low-income tax credits for the project. The tax-exempt bonds will lower the interest costs for the project while the tax credits when sold will generate equity.<\/p>\n
Mike Andrews, a consultant that the Marin Housing Authority hired to advise it, said the rehabilitation will take place in three phases. Andrews said the tax credits and bonds approved will help underwrite the $85 million cost of phase one. The total cost for completing all three phases is estimated to be $266 million.<\/p>\n
The plan also calls for Golden Gate Village to transition from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s public housing program to the department\u2019s long-term, Section 8 project-based voucher program.<\/p>\n
The process, known in government terms as a rental assistance demonstration or RAD conversion, will result in more government funds for operations and maintenance of Golden Gate Village. It also allows for the use of private capital and more flexible funding sources, like low-income housing tax credits, to address repair needs.<\/p>\n
Andrews said phase one will refurbish 88 residences, including one resident manager\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will touch every surface inside and outside of the buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cThe units will have new kitchens, bathrooms, new floor coverings, new paint, new fixtures and new appliances. It will be a comprehensive revitalization.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few members of the Golden Gate Village residents\u2019 council, however, remain opposed to the rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Royce McLemore, a longtime member of the council, said it previously submitted an alternative plan, but it was \u201cshot down\u201d by Andrews.<\/p>\n
The plan called for the creation of a limited equity housing co-op and the transfer of ownership of Golden Gate Village\u2019s 30 acres of land and 29 buildings to the co-op. Residents living at Golden Gate Village were to be given the opportunity to become shareholders in the co-op. The housing authority\u2019s commissioners decided, with the advice of Andrews, that the plan was financially infeasible.<\/p>\n
McLemore also asserted that the housing authority had failed to secure a memorandum of understanding, known as an MOU, with the resident council concerning the revitalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not over until the Lord says it\u2019s over, in Jesus\u2019 name,\u201d she said. \u201cWatch and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of a group of Marin residents who live outside Marin City but have resolutely backed the residents\u2019 council in the past voiced their support for the issuance of the bonds.<\/p>\n
Anne Devero-Rosenfeld of Mill Valley, a member of Friends of Golden Gate Village, said the MOU issue should be resolved, but added, \u201cEven in light of that, Friends of Golden Gate Village supports the county approval of bonds for phase one Golden Gate Village financing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara Bogard of Mill Valley, said, \u201cI\u2019ve been working on the revitalization on a strictly volunteer basis for close to 10 years now. I\u2019m pleased to know that after several false starts, we could finally be less than four months from beginning this important project. I\u2019m asking you to please approve these bonds, let\u2019s get going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nancy Binzen of San Geronimo Valley said, \u201cI, like Barbara, am one of the founding members of the strategy team that worked very closely with the resident council for several years to bring safe, fair and sustainable housing that also maintains the historic value of this special place to all the people and families who live at Golden Gate Village. That this revitalization can actually happen is momentous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marin supervisors have approved the issuance of up to $50 million in tax-exempt bonds to help finance the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,12827,1011,181,23,8529,992,12828,12829,1396,100,180,993,266,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-14505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-california","tag-golden-gate-village","tag-housing","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marin-city","tag-marin-county","tag-marin-housing-authority","tag-marin-supervisors","tag-mill-valley","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}