Article courtesy of The Marin Independent Journal, May 6, 2024

San Rafael city leaders have selected housing, capital improvement and public service projects to share nearly a half million dollars in federal funding.

The money is coming to Marin County from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to split between the county, San Rafael and Novato.

Although this year’s allocation has not been finalized, staff have made recommendations based on last year’s total award of $1.58 million. San Rafael’s share is expected to be about $475,000.

The City Council approved the recommendations Monday.

“Recommendations are subject to adjustments necessary to accommodate any changes in final allocation given to the county of Marin by the federal government,” said Mel Burnette, the city’s housing and homelessness analyst.

The city received six applications for a combined total of $2.1 million in requests for housing projects. The recommendation included only $290,000 toward housing projects, Burnette said.

An electrical upgrade project for Art Works Downtown’s affordable housing site on Fourth Street is set to receive $200,000.

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco would get $75,000 for its site on Redwood Boulevard, an 80-unit affordable home development available to the Marin population, including San Rafael residents.

A residential access improvement project at the Marin Center for Independent Living was selected for $15,000.

In the capital improvement category, the city received applications with a combined request for $670,000. The Canal Alliance, the only applicant selected, is set to receive $125,000 for a pedestrian crossing beacon in front of its new center between Francisco Boulevard and Second Street.

Eleven public service applicants submitted requests for a total of $540,000. The recommendation includes $60,000 in awards for five projects.

The city’s Pickleweed preschool is set to get $23,000. Other allocations include Front Porch Communities Foundation, $7,000; Marin YMCA, $13,000; Planned Parenthood of Northern California, $10,000 and $7,000 to Vivalon.

“In total countywide, we received over $10 million worth of requests for what will be less than $2 million worth of funding,” said Molly Kron, a county planner. “A lot of difficult decisions had to be made in order to fit recommendations within the limited budgets that we had.”

If the federal allocation ends up being lower than expected, Kron said officials would need to do a pro rata reduction based on the total received. The pro rata adjustment would only be subject to projects receiving more than $15,000.

Councilmember Rachel Kertz served as a member of the priority setting committee that selected the recommendations. Kertz said selections were made through a “time-consuming” and “very deliberate process.”

“It was incredibly hard,” Kertz said. “All of the grants were ranked based on the priorities and first there was a process of agreeing on what those priorities were.”

Kertz said she was looking at projects that had already been started and needed additional funding to complete.

“In some cases it was sort of make-or-break funding,” Kertz said. As an example, the YMCA needed the funding to expand its affordable child care program. “So it was very critical.”

A funding allocation hearing is set for May 16. The recommendations are expected to be presented to the county Board of Supervisors on June 4.