The Marin Post

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Vulcan Real Estate and Studio 216

Our affordable housing challenge circa 2007: nothing has change but the numbers

The following opinion piece was published in the Marin IJ in July of 2007. Its reasoning is as valid now as it was then.


Arguments about affordable housing are flying back and forth - a debate pointlessly framed as a "for or against" problem. But affordable housing challenges will not be solved by sound bites and epithets. Maybe it's time to challenge our assumptions.

So following up on my discussions with columnist Dick Spotswood (IJ, June 3, "Local solutions to affordable housing, health care"), here are some points that may surprise people.

We're constantly being told we have to choose between small-town values and affordable housing, between quality of life and diversity. Well, maybe we can't have it all, but I believe we can have a lot more than we're being told.

It may seem difficult to reconcile all the points noted above, but we can't properly address our current challenges unless we do.

And when we do, new options appear.