Editorial: Marin faced many challenges in 2023

As 2023 ticks down into history, we in Marin can see a year filled with challenges, both met and missed.

It was a year where local municipalities continued to struggle with homeless encampments, which had become more visible – a presence typically found in big cities, not suburbs.

A combination of the pandemic, which left many jobless, and court rulings that hamstrung local efforts to enforce anti-camping laws, protected the encampments.

As 2023 goes into the history books, the year was one where municipalities muddled in search of solutions.

They found the strategy of “housing first” is effective if you have the housing to which the homeless can go. In our county, construction is underway in an effort to meet the need.

Every municipality also found itself facing Sacramento’s rewriting of land-use laws and undermining local restrictions in order to promote housing construction.

The new laws change the landscape, both politically and in opening up sites to development – at densities historically resisted by local decision makers.

Marin’s been well-known for its longstanding restrictive zoning. Local  no-growth policies have put pressure on surrounding counties to provide housing for Marin jobholders.

Over the past year, the county and Marin towns and cities have been busy rewriting their local land-use policies to meet the state’s quotas.

The state’s upheaval of local land-use laws is setting the stage for construction of more than 14,000 more homes – more than the number of residences in Mill Valley and Larkspur combined – across the county by 2030.

Sacramento has rewritten the rules and local rejection of proposed housing developments invites lawsuits filed by the state seeking to overturn denials.

Just recently, state Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Los Angeles County town of La Cañada Flintridge asking the court to overturn the affluent town’s rejection of an 80-unit affordable housing project.

“Far too many Californians struggle to access affordable housing, and cities have a duty to facilitate, not block, affordable housing to alleviate our housing crisis,” Bonta was quoted as saying in a press release issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The lawsuit serves as a warning to other cities and towns – including those in our county that think they can do what they’ve done in the past and ignore the state’s housing quotas.

The year 2023 also brought another welcomed rainy season, taking pressure off the Marin Municipal and North Marin water districts and its customers. MMWD, which came perilously close to running out of water due a string of years of historic drought, was led by a new board majority and started mapping out short- and long-term solutions to making the local water supply more resilient.

The board’s progress has been methodical, even raising water rates in order to pay for needed construction and improvements.

Another challenge that grew during 2023 was the threat of fentanyl and its contribution to spikes in accidental overdoses. The powerful opioid can be lethal in even small doses. The deadly drug is often disguised as other prescription drugs and has led to deaths and numerous overdoses among teens and younger adults.

The community’s reaction has been strong, increasing public awareness about the danger and bolstering public access to Narcan nasal spray, which can save lives.

Many of the challenges of 2023 remain for 2024. They are going to take prolonged change in attitudes and policies.

Making a difference when it comes to racial and economic equity in Marin is not going to happen overnight. But progress can be made if local decision-makers make it a priority to view issues through the lens of equity and diversity, not just that of Marin’s majority of affluent White households.

The year 2024 promises to be a busy year; 2023 leaves a lengthy to-do list.