Blog note: this opinion piece references the grand jury.
It’s not every day that a member of Marin’s Board of Supervisors shows leadership, vision and political courage. Supervisor Damon Connolly has just accomplished that trifecta. The First District supervisor and former San Rafael council member made a bold proposal dealing with one of Marin’s long-term dilemmas, the fate of the deteriorating county housing complex at Marin City known as Golden Gate Village.
The basis of Connolly’s suggestion is whenever a new Golden Gate Village arises on the ashes of the poorly maintained subsidized development, current residents should be given an opportunity to own their own apartments.
The 59-year-old complex is the home to about 700 mostly low-income African-Americans living in relatively isolated conditions. It’s similar to many other American “housing projects,” most of which are monuments to well-intentioned but poorly conceived and abysmally executed intentions.
Today the entire idea behind Golden Gate Village is being reconsidered. As Marin’s grand jury advises, “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Should the current all-low income, all-subsidized model be perpetuated or should it be reenvisioned, as the county Housing Authority suggests? A different approach might include a range of housing opportunities including the current subsidized approach matched with market-rate units, creating a desegregated community.
Connolly’s suggestion provides a viable route out of poverty. It’s no surprise that one way to quit the cycle of poverty and emerge into the middle class is to own your own home. Whether it’s a single-family structure or multi-unit condominium, home ownership enables the creation of equity and thus long-term inheritable wealth.
Ending the cycle of poverty needs to be a high government priority. Connolly’s notion is based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 32 program. Subsidies are available, “to public housing residents or other low-income families in the forms of (a) down payment or closing cost assistance, (b) subordinate mortgages, and/or (c) below-market financing.”
Letting go of the old housing project model can be scary to older Marin City residents. They share an understandable trait with most other Marinites. They fear change. Despite that worry, change is inevitable but, like everywhere else, it needs to be gradual, demonstrate respect for current residents and facilitate long-term improvements.
Current long-term Golden Gate Village residents, who may have lived there much of their lives, need to be guaranteed lifetime housing in Marin City whether the Housing Authority’s buildings are rehabilitated or built anew. It does not mean that the current practice of multi-generational residency should be perpetuated.
When envisioned, what is now Golden Gate Village was meant as housing for Sausalito’s mostly black shipyard workers who found it difficult to locate homes due to wartime shortages and then-common restrictive housing covenants. Over the years, it morphed into something closer to the now-derided paternalistic “housing project” mold based on racial stereotypes.
Younger people – especially children – must not be locked into a culture of dependence. To give them a brighter future, couple funded home ownership at Golden Gate Village with a first-class education. Such a proposition will enable younger residents who wish to stay in the community to build wealth while creating the opportunity for them to move up and — if they wish — out.
Connolly’s outside-the-box thinking on a racially charged topic is today’s definition of political courage. As every officeholder knows, doing so opens them to the likelihood of being called either a racist or politically correct. The usual result is the tried-and-true practice of benign neglect which honors no one.
Whether Golden Gate Village is demolished and rebuilt or extensively remodeled, it needs to be reimagined. If a majority of his colleagues see the wisdom behind Connolly’s suggestion, HUD Section 32 home ownership should be incorporated in whatever long-term vision for Golden Gate Village is ultimately adopted.
June 8, 2019
Marin Independent Journal
By Dick Spotswood
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