Feinstein, Boxer Back Affordable Housing Plan for Point Reyes Station Coast Guard Facility

By Bay City News Service

U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein Tuesday threw their support behind an effort to convert a U.S. Coast Guard facility in Point Reyes Station into an affordable housing complex.

The senators jointly introduced legislation directing the Coast Guard to bypass its normal property auction procedure and sell the surplus property directly to Marin County. The county plans to work with the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin to turn the 30-acre property, which currently contains 36 housing units, administrative offices, a dormitory and outdoor recreational facilities, into affordable housing.

Feinstein called the plan “commonsense” in a statement Tuesday.

“Housing in Marin County is among the most expensive in the entire country,” she said. “It’s becoming increasingly out of reach for working families and additional affordable housing is sorely needed.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, introduced a similar legislative provision last year that was approved on Friday by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. As part of the Coast Guard
Authorization Act of 2015, the bill will now go before the full House of Representatives for a vote.

The Coast Guard is expected to put the property up for sale in the next fiscal year, which starts September.

The project has drawn strong support from the Point Reyes Station community and nearly two dozen other organizations throughout the county, Feinstein and Boxer said Tuesday.