On Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 9am, the Marin County Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting to discuss acquiring Novato’s Inn Marin Hotel located at 250 Entrada Drive, Novato (APN 160-161-21) to potentially house local unsheltered residents through the State’s Homekey Program.

In an effort to rapidly expand housing for persons who are currently experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, and who are impacted by COVID-19, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) launched the Homekey Program. Through this program, $600 million dollars in grant funding is made available to local public entities to purchase and rehabilitate housing, including hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and other buildings and convert them into interim or permanent, long-term housing. These types of housing projects are becoming prevalent in California with other projects also coming online in Marin County.

Last week, the County of Marin notified the City that they had tentatively been awarded funds from the Homekey Program with the intent of purchasing Inn Marin. The County’s application process does not include the City’s vetting of this project. As such, the City requested the County present this item at the Novato City Council meeting on October 27 at 6pm to make our community aware of this project and allow an additional opportunity for the community to share their input to County staff.

“While Novato has been a leader in affordable housing in Marin County, it is disappointing this project has an expedited timeline that doesn’t include Novato’s typical development process and subsequent community engagement,” said City Manager Adam McGill. “We remain committed to transparency and encourage the community to review the County’s proposal and provide feedback to City and County leaders.”

The Marin County Board of Supervisors will discuss this item at their meetings on October 27 and November 17. For Board of Supervisors meeting information, visit marincounty.org/bos.

To view the Novato City Council meeting agenda, please visit novato.org/councilagendas. Council meeting agendas are posted by end of day on the Thursday before each meeting.