Policy: Protecting Against Displacement

Displacement is an urgent and critical issue in Marin County. New housing is necessary but slow: affordable housing takes 3–7 years to build, and market-rate housing 2–3 years or more. Preservation opportunities are limited, and residents are being displaced now. Policies that protect against displacement keep people housed while production and preservation take effect. Without them, Marin will keep losing lower-income households, working families, renters, and communities of color.

The three P strategies reinforce each other. Production eases the scarcity that drives rent increases, “soft displacement” (being priced out), and “hard displacement” (evictions, demolitions, conversions). Preservation tools such as opportunity-to-purchase policies and community land trusts keep older, naturally affordable buildings from converting to market rate. Protections against displacement, including eviction protections, rental assistance, and others, stabilize residents in the short term and encourage owners to maintain existing rental stock.

Stability underpins every other investment. Progress in education, employment, and health is fragile when families don’t know how long they can stay in their homes. Most lower-income Marin residents rent market-rate homes, leaving them exposed to rising rents and unsafe conditions that current laws do not adequately address. Each investor purchase, rent spike, or red-tagged unit pushes neighbors and workers out of the county, lengthening commutes and adding traffic and emissions. Displacement disrupts schooling, strains finances, separates older adults from support networks, and weakens the local economy. Rent stabilization is the best-known tool, but only one part of a comprehensive anti-displacement strategy including just cause eviction protections, relocation assistance, right to return, rental registries, and junk fee regulation.

In 2025, the Rooted in Marin report was published. The results are clear: Marin County, cities, and towns must do more to fight displacement. The report highlights the causes of displacement, and gives anti-displacement policy and program suggestions. Call Marin Home also recommends Evicted – Property and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond as a good resource.

Protecting Against Displacement: Posts

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  Learn | Perspective | Policy | Tenant Protections

  Novato Shows Marin How It’s Done

  ByCarmela Davis May 30, 2026May 30, 2026

  Written by Lucie Hollingsworth, Director of Policy, Legal Aid of Marin Nearly a year after a dozen households — more than 40 residents, including 17 children — were unceremoniously displaced from the condemned Romar Court Apartments, the Novato City Council took rare proactive action. On April 28, 2026, the Council adopted a strengthened just cause tenant…

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  Featured | Learn | Perspective | Policy | Tenant Protections

  Rooted in Marin: A Collaborative Effort Toward Anti-Displacement Policies

  ByCarmela Davis June 2, 2025June 2, 2025

  by Chris Logan, Partnership for Bay Future Fellow , County of Marin Community Development Agency Before we lose diversity, workers, and quality of life… we must act now. Rooted in Marin: Strategies for Anti-Displacement is a collaboration between the Cities, Towns, and County of Marin. Read or download the report here.   Low-income and rent-burdened households are at…

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  Featured | Learn | Perspective | Policy | Prop 5 | Tenant Protections

  Election results and Friendraiser recap

  ByCarmela Davis November 25, 2024November 26, 2024

  THE ELECTION RESULTS MAKE FIXING OUR HOUSING CRISIS MORE DIFFICULT, BUT THAT WON’T STOP US. A word from Jenny Silva, MEHC’s Board Chair I, like many of my friends and family, am grappling with the implications of the election. The impact is extremely broad, but today, I’ll focus on the election’s impact on housing. This was a…