Workers displaced from ranch closures at Point Reyes Station in West Marin County receive new housing
By John Ramos
The housing shortage affects every city in the California, large or small. It the West Marin County It became a genuine emergency in January 2025 when the National Park Service ended commercial cattle operations on 12 ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore, displacing some 100 workers from their homes.
But the local community stepped up, and on Wednesday they celebrated the opening of a new neighborhood, and for one small moment, people got what felt like a happy ending.
In March of last year, Marin County supervisors met to declare a state of emergency over the ranch worker evictions. At the meeting, homeowner Mark Switzer fought back tears as he addressed the board.
“I am a landowner, and I have been an entitled, complacent resident of Point Reyes Station,” Switzer said at the time. “And I’m ashamed and appalled by the situation we’re in.”
But on Wednesday morning, there was a different emotion, as Switzer proudly looked out at the new housing his town has created for its most vulnerable residents.
“The problem had to get magnified to the point where people would act,” he said. “But they did, and we have, and it’s a great moment, it’s a great day today.”
The new 14-unit complex will house about 30 of the 100 people displaced. And thanks to the emergency declaration, the non-profit developer, Community Land Trust Association of West Marin (CLAM), was able to acquire, permit, and construct the facility in record time.
“If any of you had driven past this property less than a year ago, you’d have seen a vacant lot, right?” said CLAM executive director Jarrod Russell. “And today we see houses. And more importantly, what we see is hope. We see hope.”
Officials say last year’s emergency declaration was key to expediting the construction. It exempted the project from normal building codes and permitting regulations and avoided the lengthy approval process of the California Coastal Commission. But perhaps the most amazing thing about the project was that there was almost universal support from the community.
“When people lost their housing, everyone took it personally,” said longtime resident Francine Allen. “It’s really wonderful. It’s really wonderful. There wasn’t opposition. This was actually something that people wanted. People wanted to find a solution.”
“I mean, this is just so tangibly, materially improving lives and community here. And you can just feel it,” said Sarah Jones, director of Marin County Community Development Agency. “Nobody had any concept of what it could be. I knew. I knew all along that this was what we were getting towards.”
“You want to know how to solve affordable housing in this country, this massive, complicated problem? It’s community,” said Rhea Suh, CEO of the Marin Community Foundation. “It’s all of us taking stake in the places that we live, for the neighbors that we live beside, to stand up and do everything that we can to make a difference. And that difference actually does work.”
The project at 6th and B streets was truly a labor of love. And Eduardo Romo, who just moved in, was well aware of it.
“I guess I just feel lucky,” he laughed, “to be in such a beautiful place with so many amazing people that really care for one another and try to have each other’s backs.”
The current housing units are only temporary, with a plan to build more permanent homes in about three years. Which means this isn’t really a happy ending at all. It’s a happy beginning, compliments of the neighbors of Point Reyes Station.
