A Marin politician is angling to get his constituents another pass on a state requirement to build affordable housing.
In much of California, there is a delicate balance between making room for everyone and keeping the charm that draws people here in the first place.
But Marin Assemblyman Marc Levine got the assembly to approve a last-minute deal known as a budget trailer bill.
The deal extends Marin’s special status as a metropolitan area with suburban housing requirements.
“This policy would typically have gone through the housing committees in the legislature and possibly the local government committees, said Anya Lawler, a policy advocate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. “It would be vetted and debated. The trailer bill process allows you to skip all that.”
The county — as well as the cities of San Rafael and Novato — don’t have to build projects as densely as other similar areas the state.
“It’s not okay. If you don’t do density, you don’t ever get affordability, because affordable housing developers have to build densely,” said Lawler.
