Committee weighs quick housing strategies: HomeShare pilot, ADU loans, Section 8 outreach and land for 100% affordable projects

Mill Valley’s Housing Advisory Committee met Oct. 26, 2025, to finalize priorities and hear presentations on short- and long-term strategies for producing and preserving affordable homes, including a HomeShare program pilot, ADU loan and monitoring offers from the Marin Housing Authority, and a MidPen feasibility briefing on building 100% affordable housing on public or donated land.

Public comments opened the meeting with residents urging stronger fair-housing commitments in the city’s housing element, preservation of lower-cost housing and consideration of community-led approaches to development. Dennis Klein, representing the Mill Valley Affordable Housing Committee, said the group’s audit found the city’s plan placed heavy reliance on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and asked the committee to study upcoming changes in state law that affect general plan compliance.

Staff review and committee priorities City staff (Danielle) reviewed items the committee has flagged as priorities: demolition regulations; soft-story retrofit requirements; updates to the ADU ordinance; leveraging underutilized housing; identifying and leveraging public land; and designing use of the city’s housing trust fund. The committee agreed demolition regulations should be advanced before a soft-story program to avoid unintentionally removing older rental stock, and recommended staff proceed on the planned ADU ordinance update and an interim ADU ordinance to bring to the City Council.

Housing trust fund discussion Committee members discussed how to deploy roughly $250,000 currently in the city’s affordable housing fund, which has been collected for less…