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Housing discrimination is widespread in the North Bay. Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California conducted a four month investigation into Sonoma, Marin, and Solano counties, looking at rental practices of 20 properties in each county. They found that while Marin County had the highest rate of discrimination overall, Sonoma County showed the highest rate of discrimination based on national origin. It reports that 4 agents or landlords showed clear evidence of discrimination against the Latina tester based on her origin. Meanwhile, three others showed “some or potential evidence” of discrimination on the basis of national origin. The investigation was conducted from January through April 2023 and made public last month.
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A four-month investigation in three North Bay counties found that housing discrimination based on national origin was more common in Sonoma County than Marin or Solano counties, but that Marin had the highest rate of discrimination overall. Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, or FHANC, examined rental practices at 20 properties in each county, using testers who posed by phone or email as either Latina or white potential renters with children. The investigation tested for discrimination at the pre-application stage based on familial status (the presence of children) or national origin or a combination of both. It did not name specific properties, landlords or property management companies. A small number of tests in Marin and Solano counties were discarded because of inconclusive results. At four properties tested in Sonoma County, or 20%, managers, agents or landlords showed clear evidence of discrimination against the Latina tester based on her origin, according to the investigation; three other properties, or 15% of those tested, showed “some or potential evidence” of discrimination on the basis of national origin. In Marin, 5% of properties tested showed clear evidence of national origin discrimination, while 26%showed some or potential evidence. One of the Sonoma County examples of discrimination took place in Penngrove, said Caroline Peattie, executive director of San Rafael-based FHANC, a housing rights and advocacy group. There, a Latina tester who called to inquire about an apartment was invited to view it, but after she mentioned she had two children, she was told it was too small and “it wouldn’t work.” However, when a white tester later called and expressed interest in the unit for herself and two children, the owner said nothing about family size and offered to show her the apartment that night. In an example from the city of Sonoma, a tester posing as a Latina with two kids responded to a listing and, Peattie said, was told by the landlord that he was prioritizing applicants with one or two occupants. He said he would show her the unit but already had many interested applicants, many of them single occupants. When a tester posing as a white woman with two kids inquired about the same property the next day, the same person offered to show her the unit the next day. The landlord did not mention wanting to prioritize smaller households. The investigation was conducted January through April 2023 and made public last month. FHANC serves only Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties. ‘Additional barriers’ “Particularly for single Latinx mothers, both familial status and national origin discrimination end up posing additional barriers to housing at a time when the Bay Area housing market is already extraordinarily tight,” said Peattie. The most overall housing discrimination occurred in Marin County — where 67% of the tests revealed at least some evidence of discrimination — the FHANC investigation concluded. Marin also had the most discrimination based on familial status, 53% of the properties tested, the investigation found. “What this tells me is that in both (Marin and Sonoma) counties there's a lot more work that needs to be done around educating housing providers about fair housing laws,” Peattie said. Jennie Rihl, president of the 66-member Marin/Sonoma chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers, or NARPM, said the findings were not surprising — with a caveat. Click here to keep reading. Click here to read the entire article.
Colleen Arnold, as she was being honored for her volunteer work at the annual Heart of Marin luncheon last week, commented on the event’s annual youth awards, saying they make her feel like “I’m not doing enough.” Many in the audience at the San Rafael event shared her summation. Soon after, a number of local teens were honored for their seemingly tireless commitment to needs, large and small. Many worked on multiple causes, locally and nationally, while also getting top grades in school. They were among those honored at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership’s 31st awards ceremony where they turned the spotlight on Marin’s nonprofits and their generous volunteers. It is a heartwarming, hope-inspiring and, at times, humbling event, held this year at the Marin Center Exhibit Hall. It is an annual tribute to the thousands of community volunteers and local nonprofit leaders and supporters who strive to make a difference – big and small, but both just as important – in our county. Arnold was honored for her leadership with the Matrix Parent Network and Resource Center, a longstanding nonprofit that provides support for families with children with special needs. She was among the 124 nominees across eight categories, from youth volunteers and lifetime achievement to corporate community service and “Volunteer of the Year.” The nominations are made by local nonprofits, screened by teams of community leaders who select the awardees. For example, Ghilotti Bros. Inc, an historic business leader in our county, was honored for its years of donating money, time and equipment for local community educational and sports projects, from a school butterfly garden to a sports court at San Quentin State Prison, as well as its ongoing support for local construction training programs. Mike Wing, a volunteer with Call of the Sea, was named 2023 Volunteer of the Year, honored for his work with the nonprofit sailing program and its water-based education programs as well as his impressive anti-pollution work and efforts to grow awareness about microplastic pollutants. Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California won the award for Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence; NAMI Marin Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Team for Excellence in Innovation; Chandra Alexandre, chief executive officer of Community Action Marin, for the Excellence in Leadership; and Berta Campos-Anicetti was awarded the Lifetime Achievement for her 34 years of work in community health education programs for Latino families. CNVL’s awards committee cited for her work to remove barriers and build trust, most recently shown in her effective outreach work to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates. Similar to Arnold, she spoke of how she has found inspiration in the Heart of Marin awards ceremonies she has attended in the past. The youths honored this year included Surabhi Chinta, for her work with The Marine Mammal Center; Ryder Lariviere for his work and leadership with the Boy Scouts, locally and nationally; Kate Van Hooser, a volunteer nominated by Marin’s Extra Food nonprofit; Marcos Vega of Youth Transforming Justice and his work with the Marin Youth Court restorative justice program; and Olivia Villanova, a nominee for her work with Becca’s Closet Redwood High School chapter, where she has helped collect and provide around 400 free prom dresses for local high school students. Many of these teens were multi-tasking volunteers, donating their time and talent to more than one nonprofit or cause. As CVNL’s CEO Linda Jacobs, who emceed the luncheon, put it, the work of Marin’s nonprofits, their volunteers and supporters is “absolutely amazing, inspiring and hopeful.” The Heart of Marin event was a fitting showcase and tribute for the important work and heartfelt service that goes on, most often quietly, around our county. Click here to read the entire article. Click here to read the entire article.
Click here to watch the ABC7 report on YouTube. MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- In the North Bay, a new fair housing report finds that landlords in Marin and two other counties are discriminating against Latino renters and families with children. Those findings have been uncovered by Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California. The nonprofit says rental housing discrimination is a real thing in the North Bay. "We wanted to see how Latinx parents were being treated at the pre-application rental inquiry stage," said Fair Housing Advocates Attorney Julia Howard-Gibbon. Howard-Gibbon says between January and April of 2023, they investigated landlords at random, operating 60 rental properties in Marin, Solano and Sonoma Counties and found some level of discrimination at 58% of the properties. Advocates say Marin County had the highest incidence of discrimination at about 66%. In its investigation, the organization says 52% of test calls to landlords made by trained testers reveled evidence of discrimination against renters with children, and 31% showed evidence of discrimination against Latino renters. "The Latina called up and said she had two children. Landlord said, sorry that's too small for a family of three. The white tester called and (they) said, 'Sure, that should be no problem. We can make it work,'" said Howard-Gibbon. The report says Sonoma County saw a 35% discrimination level against Latinos. Solano County showed the least overall bias, at 25% against renters with children. "We want landlords to understand what the law is. Maybe they are unaware that people in their office are saying these thing," Howard-Gibbon added. Canal Alliance reacted to the report saying in a statement: "This issue has impacted our community for far too long, denying Latinos and families with children their right to equal housing. Marin deserves better, and it's time to dismantle these discriminatory barriers and build a truly inclusive community where everyone can thrive," said CEO Omar Cabrera. "I don't know what their bias was," said Joby Tapia, president of Marin Rental Property Owners Association. Advocates for rental property owners question how the report was conducted. "Most owners we talked to are well aware of fair housing laws. And regulations, racism is not the case," Tapia said. "Finding one is significant. The fair housing act was passed in 1968. We still don't want to believe people are discriminating," Howard-Gibbon said. Fair housing advocates say they will send letters to landlords who they believe discriminated against potential renters and could pursue legal action in the future. Click here to watch the ABC7 report on YouTube. Click here to read the full article.
A company’s plans to build a city-sized community from scratch in Solano County are leaving a series of open questions about what this project could mean for low-income people. California Forever on Monday hosted the final installment of a series of town halls in almost every city in Solano County. Crowded, contentious and charged with emotion, these events have offered the public a chance to gain more information about California Forever before the company presents concrete plans in the form of a ballot initiative next month. Despite these extensive, in-depth talks about priorities and goals for the proposed development, there’s still at least one major uncertainty. Who would actually be able to live there? California Forever has committed to building housing “designed for all levels of incomes.” It has also floated the idea of providing down-payment assistance programs to help people including teachers, police officers and construction workers buy homes. “The principle we have is that the people who build the community and the people who work in it should be able to live there,” Sramek said in an interview. At this point, however, the company has not committed to building workforce housing. It has not said how many housing units, if any, it will set aside for low-income people. And it has not yet presented a coherent picture of how the new community would affect the cost of living in Solano County’s existing cities. These unanswered questions leave people on the front lines of housing equity projects unsure what to think but fearing for the worst. “The biggest concern right now is that mismatch between what they think of as housing for residents of many different brackets, and the reality of people in poverty in Solano County,” said Shannon McCaffrey, the managing attorney for the Solano County office of Legal Services of Northern California. Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, said, “If they want the construction workers who build the housing there to actually be able to live there, then they should be committing right off the bat to building workforce housing.” California Forever Head of Planning Gabriel Metcalf said low-cost housing is still on the table. However, the company’s focus is on “missing middle” housing: Medium-density homes at a medium price point. “This is the type of housing that most cities in the Bay Area have the hardest time producing, so we think it’s a niche we can uniquely help serve, and deliver a lot of units that are affordable by design,” he said. “We are also having discussions about workforce housing with multiple stakeholders, as we try to balance out what we prioritize to reflect the desires of the community – between various competing priorities like creating workforce housing while also creating good paying jobs and also providing missing middle homes and downpayment assistance.” The company said it will be releasing a paper on the topic of housing equity in the new year. Click here to keep reading. Click here to read the entire article.
It has been 30 years since Mill Valley has built a 100% affordable housing project. However, a group of residents calling themselves “Friends of Hauke Park” claims the city’s proposed 45-unit affordable project at 1 Hamilton Drive is conflicting with the city’s duty to “affirmatively further fair housing” as required by state housing mandates. The group recently filed a petition with Marin County Superior Court in an attempt to thwart the project. However, as the executive director for the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California private nonprofit organization serving Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties, it is clear to me that the group is misapplying the principle. This is far from a violation. The project would constitute an important first step toward furthering fair housing in Mill Valley. Federal and state law mandates that cities like Mill Valley, in their housing element in all other relevant activities, affirmatively further fair housing. This requirement goes beyond nondiscrimination in housing, and it includes proactively taking action to “overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity” for communities of color, persons with disabilities, and others protected by fair housing law. The petitioners seek to divide the city into “East Mill Valley” and “West” Mill Valley, or likewise divide the city by census tract. They claim it is a fair housing violation to choose to build the project in a census tract that has a 70% White population and a median family income of $124,083 (which are about median for Marin County) on the basis that the other census tracts in Mill Valley have an even greater White population and median income. However, any way you slice it, the neighborhoods of Mill Valley are highly resourced, more affluent and less diverse as compared to the Bay Area as a whole. Developing affordable housing in any of these areas will serve to further housing opportunity and choice and overcome segregation, regardless of where other affordable housing is already located. Click here to keep reading. Click here to read the entire article.
The California Mortgage Relief Program offers up to $80,000 in assistance to residents within specific income limits who have missed at least two mortgage payments or have overdue property taxes. At the end of July, the delinquency cutoff date for missed payments was expanded from March 1 to Aug. 1, 2023. “We understand many homeowners are still grappling with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rebecca Franklin, president of the CalHFA Homeowner Relief Corp., in a statement. “Resetting the delinquency date means more families can now qualify for our program.” But due to limited outreach efforts, the program has gone somewhat under the radar, officials and advocates acknowledge. They say they are trying to get the word out to the many struggling homeowners who may benefit. They add that because of requirements including mortgage type and size, qualifying for the money can be more difficult in the Bay Area — one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. And even for those who may qualify, the application process can be daunting, advocates say. Here’s a look at the program and advice from officials and advocates on how to find out if you qualify, how to apply, and what to do if at first you don’t succeed. Click here to keep reading. Click here to read the full article.
Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FHANC), based in Marin County, California is a unique agency, that proudly participates in both the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and is a HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agency (HCA). FHANC provides bi-lingual fair housing counseling services, pre-purchase counseling/education, mortgage foreclosure prevention services and advisory and training services across Marin, Sonoma, and Solano county. Last year, FHANC provided counseling or education services to 4,843 clients. 80 percent of their fair housing clients were Latiné and Black/African American and 95 percent are extremely low to low-income. Issues of fair housing choices, equal opportunities, and inclusive communities free from discrimination remain central to FHANC and the work they do for their clients. For these reasons, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) is at the core of FHANC’s values and mission. As an HCA and FHIP agency, FHANC positions itself to address AFFH in a distinct way by:
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Airbnb, the short-term-rental behemoth, announced today that it’s putting “Rooms”—the concept that basically jump-started the sharing-economy movement back in 2008—front and center on its platform. This “touches the soul of the company,” said Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky in a press conference ahead of the announcement. Though the company has always offered travelers the ability to book a room in a shared space—the original Airbnb proposition—those lower-budget stays took the backseat over the past decade as the company emphasized its inventory of entire houses and apartments, and even staffed luxury villas. With the relaunched Rooms, Airbnb is highlighting these shared spaces in a tab right on the home screen, allowing travelers to more easily search for them. It’s also eliminating some of the discomfort around staying with a stranger by including a “Host Passport” alongside each listing, which includes biographical info about the host, along with dating app-style prompts about their personality. This focus on Rooms could help the company earn back goodwill from travelers who have become increasingly vocal about rising prices on Airbnb. (The average daily rate of an Airbnb listing has increased 36% since 2019, according to David Stephenson on the company’s most recent earnings call.) Currently, Airbnb has one million Rooms on its platform, with an average price of $65 a night, said Chesky. Along with Rooms, the company is also introducing new features that make it easier for travelers to see the total price of a stay for any style of accommodation, to avoid sticker shock. They’re part of a larger push by the company to fix some of its core design issues. Click here to keep reading. Click here to read the entire article.
Lea este artículo en español. Section 8 vouchers have been one of the federal government’s landmark responses to unaffordable housing for half a century. But too often in California, families sit on a waitlist for years only to see their once-golden ticket expire before they can find a home. A fresh batch of emergency vouchers became available last year to address growing housing insecurity during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic — and local and federal officials watching their rollout believe the new vouchers’ features already offer some promising solutions to a broken system. Housing choice vouchers, added in 1974 to Section 8 of the federal Housing Act of 1937, allow low-income tenants to pay only 30% of their income toward rent and utilities while Uncle Sam shoulders the rest. These vouchers have helped pay rent for more than 300,000 households in California this year, totaling $1.9 billion in assistance. Click here to keep reading. |
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