On January 24, 2023, the Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the 2023-2031 Marin County Housing Element. On June 19, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certified Marin's Housing Element.
Physical copies of the Housing Element are available at the following Marin County Free Library branches: Civic Center, Bolinas, Inverness, Marin City, Point Reyes and Stinson Beach. Please reference the Marin County Free Library webpage for more information about hours and locations.
Countywide Plan Amendments
Revised Housing Element and Countywide Plan
The Marin County Housing Element and Countywide Plan were revised on December 16, 2024, to address a Marin County Court Ruling. A table of the revisions is now posted on our Housing Element webpage. Any comments on the revisions should be emailed to the Housing Element Team by Jan 7, 2025, at 5:00 PM, PST.
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Certified Housing Element
The documents in this list may not work with all assistive technology and are being remediated. For alternative formats, please email Aline Tanielian or phone 415-473-3547. To use the California relay service, dial 711.
- 2023-2031 Housing Element (31.28 MB) — Full Housing Element Document
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Chapter 1 (0.17 MB) — Table of Contents and Introduction
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Chapter 2 (0.91 MB) — Needs Assessment
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Chapter 3 (0.78 MB) — Constraints
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Chapter 4 (0.65 MB) — Resources
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Chapter 5 (0.39 MB) — Housing Plan (Policies and Programs)
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Appendix A (10.01 MB) — Community Outreach Summary
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Appendix B (0.27 MB) — Review of Previous Housing Element
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Appendix C (4.61 MB) — Sites Inventory
- 2023-2031 Housing Element Appendix D (12.97 MB) — Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)
Frequently asked questions
The Marin County Superior Court found that certain specific provisions in the Countywide Plan and the Housing Element elevate one part of the County’s general plan (i.e., the Countywide Plan and Housing Element) over another part (i.e., the community plans), and ordered the County to remove them.
To comply with the court ruling, staff is proposing amendments that remove the specific provisions that the court ruling addresses. In addition, given the removal of these specific provisions, CDA staff is proposing additional explanatory language to the Housing Element and other parts of the Countywide Plan to provide guidance on how they should be interpreted going forward.
The Board of Supervisors adopts changes to the Countywide Plan, with a recommendation from the Planning Commission. Because this amendment would include changes to the certified Housing Element, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will need to review and re-certify the Housing Element. That process includes submittal of draft changes to HCD before the Planning Commission or Board consideration of the amendments. The draft changes will be available for public review for the required period of seven days before CDA staff submits them to HCD.
The court’s decision does not change the Housing Element’s certification status. HCD will not withdraw its certification with the submittal of an amendment to the Housing Element. They will review to consider whether to certify the amended version of the Housing Element, and the County will continue to have a certified Housing Element during that period of HCD review.
Community Plans and other area plans contain policies for land use and development related specifically to a local area. They are intended to reflect local communities and are used to evaluate discretionary planning applications.
Learn more about these revisions by joining our Zoom workshop on August 19 from 6-7 PM. Register for the workshop. You can also subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates.
The following hearings are scheduled:
- Planning Commission: September 23, 2024, time TBD
- Board of Supervisors: October 15, 2024, time TBD
CDA staff is not proposing any changes to housing sites or any portion of the Housing Element or Countywide Plan that is not affected by the court’s decision. These amendments are specific to provisions implicated by the Court ruling only.
The proposed amendments are available for public review and comment on our 2023-2031 Housing Element webpage. Staff will hold a public workshop and present the proposed amendments to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for adoption later this year. Please sign up for updates on this website to stay informed on specific dates.