City Government
Money Available for Affordable Housing Development
More money is available for affordable housing developers to create new affordable homes in Marin County and preserve existing affordable units. This year, the County of Marin is leveraging several local, state and federal funding sources and issuing a single online application for affordable housing developers to bid for a portion of the $5 million available.

March 17 deadline to apply for over $5 million in funding; March 1 virtual meeting set to assist applicants
By Molly Kron
More money is available for affordable housing developers to create new affordable homes in Marin County and preserve existing affordable units.
This year, the County of Marin is leveraging several local, state and federal funding sources and issuing a single online application for affordable housing developers to bid for a portion of the $5 million available. The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) guidelines provide more details about the different types of funding and criteria for project eligibility.
Streamlining the application and allocation process supports developers who face high housing production costs and helps address the chronic shortage of affordable homes in Marin.
The available funding includes roughly $2.3 million in County Affordable Housing Funds (including a one-for-one match from the State Permanent Local Housing Allocation), $2.4 million in new federal funds from the American Rescue Plan, and $600,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds specific to housing projects.
The funds can be used for acquisition, rehabilitation, and new construction projects, although eligibility differs among the funding sources.
To address questions from potential applicants, County staff will host a virtual workshop at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 1. Registration is open on the County’s Affordable Housing webpage. Around June, staff will present funding recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
Marin has some of the highest home prices and development costs in the country. The median local price for a single-family detached home has hovered around $1.5 million in recent years, and typical rents range from $2,500 to $3,400. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been increased concern about homelessness in Marin and discussions about how to stabilize renters and expand housing choices
Well before the public health emergency, the Marin County Board of Supervisors made the preservation of affordable housing and displacement prevention top priorities as more and more Marin residents expressed concern about being priced out of the county because of high rents and mortgages.
The County’s Housing & Federal Grants Division, housed within the Community Development Agency, seeks to preserve and expand the range and supply of adequate, accessible and affordable housing through housing policies, regulations and programs. The Board and CDA staff work in tandem to increase the local stock of affordable housing, thereby enhancing socioeconomic balance in local communities.
Learn more by exploring the Super-NOFA and funding application on the County’s Affordable Housing webpage. Questions may be directed to Housing staff by email (affordablehousing@marincounty.org) or by phone at (415) 473-7309.
Molly Kron is a senior planner for the Housing and Federal Grants Division in the Marin County Community Development Agency.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

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Activism
Rise in Abductions of Black Girls in Oakland Alarms Sex-Trafficking Survivors
Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”

By Tanya Dennis
Within the last 30 days there have been seven attempted kidnappings or successful abductions of Black girls in Oakland.
Survivors of human trafficking who are now advocates are not surprised.
Nor were they surprised that the police didn’t respond, and parents of victims turned to African American community-based organizations like Adamika Village and Love Never Fails for help.
Advocates say Black and Brown girls disappear daily, usually without a blip on the screen for society and government officials.
Perhaps that will change with a proposed law by state Senator Steven Bradford’s Senate Bill 673 Ebony Alert, that, if passed, will alert people when Black people under the age of 26 go missing.
According to the bill, Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts which means fewer resources are dedicated to finding them.
Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”
Brantley, a survivor of human trafficking has been doing the work to support child sex trafficking victims for over 20 years, first as the director for the Scotlan Youth and Family Center’s Parenting and Youth Enrichment Department at Oakland’s DeFremery Park, and as one of the co-founders and executive director of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY, Inc.)
“It really hit home in 2010,” said Brantley, “before California’s Welfare Institution Code 300 was amended to include children victimized by sex trafficking.”
Before that law was amended, she had to vehemently advocate for Black and Brown girls under the age of 18 to be treated as victims rather than criminalized.
Brantley served hundreds of Black and Brown girls citing these girls were victims so they would be treated as such and offered restorative services. “To get the police to take their disappearances seriously and file a report almost never happened,” she said.
Then Brantley received a call from the Board of Supervisors regarding a “special case.” A councilman was at the meeting, as well as a member of former Alameda County Board Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s Office who had called Brantley to attend.
“The child’s parents and the child were there also. They requested that I give my full attention to this case. The girl was white and there was no question of her victimization,” Brantley said.
Brantley felt conflicted that of all the hundreds of Black and Brown girls she’d served, none had ever received this type of treatment.
Her eyes were opened that day on how “they” move, therefore with the recent escalation of kidnapping attempts of Black girls, Brantley fears that because it’s happening to Black girls the response will not be taken seriously.

Councilwoman Treva Reid
“I thank Councilwoman Treva Reid and Senator Steven Bradford (D) for pushing for the passing of the Ebony Alert Bill across the state so that the disappearance of Black girls will be elevated the same as white girls. We’ve never had a time when Black girls weren’t missing. Before, it didn’t matter if we reported it or if the parents reported the police failed to care.”

Senator Steven Bradford
Sarai S-Mazariegos, co-founder of M.I.S.S.S.E.Y, and founder and executive director of Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment (S.H.A.D.E.) agrees with Brantley.
“What we are experiencing is the effects of COVID-19, poverty and a regressive law that has sentence the most vulnerable to the sex trade,” S-Mazariegos said. “We are seeing the lack of equity in the community, the cause and consequence of gender inequality and a violation of our basic human rights. What we are seeing is sexual exploitation at its finest.”
Both advocates are encouraged by Bradford’s Ebony Alert.
The racism and inequity cited has resulted in the development of an underground support system by Brantley, S-Mazariegos and other community-based organizations who have united to demand change.
Thus far they are receiving support from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, and Oakland City Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Reid of the second and seventh districts respectively.
For more information, go to http://www.blackandmissinginc.com
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