Caregiving is often unpaid and when it is paid, it is too often underpaid. IHSS caregivers are often women and people of color and live out of the county due to high rents in Marin.

MOC's Aging and Disabilities Team has been working to increase In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caregivers’ wages. When we began researching this issue, their wage was $16.85/hour. It has since gone up 10 cents. Our goal is $26/hr, a living wage.

MOC has held five civic academies throughout the county with over 200 people attending. Those academies were opportunities for learning and teaching, really deepening our understanding of the issues.

On March 9, 2023, we held an Action in San Rafael, which 260 people attended including Supervisors Rodoni and Sackett. They committed to learning more about the living wage in relation to what share the county puts in. The wages are based on a complicated formula involving county, state, and federal dollars.

We’ve met with the County Administrator and individual Supervisors.

On May 24, 2023, MOC leaders, along with an SEIU 2015 representative, met in Sacramento with Assemblymember Connolly and Senator McGuire’s chief of staff seeking their support to increase the state’s contribution to IHSS caregiver wages.

We recently had a Zoom meeting with One LA, another IAF organization, interested in working on this issue in the Los Angeles area. Their involvement will help draw statewide attention to the living wage issue.

On June 20, 2023, 23 MOC leaders showed up in person to the Budget Hearing of the Marin County Board of Supervisors to demonstrate our support around this issue. MOC leader Pat Langley voiced concern for IHSS caregivers' low wages and urged the County to approve an increase to the Living Wage Rate. 

Marin County’s proposed 2024 budget will raise the Living Wage Rate to at least $18 an hour, but that doesn’t compare with surrounding counties. San Francisco will soon pay IHSS caregivers $25 an hour. If we don’t act, Marin will lose caregivers to other counties willing to pay more.

Read more about MOC's involvement with this issue in the following publications from the Marin Independent Journal:

Letter to the Editor by MOC leader Wendy Todd – April 19, 2023
Article quoting MOC leader Meredith Parnell discussing IHSS caregiver wages – June 4, 2023
Marin IJ Editorial: "Marin should listen to calls for expanded senior services" – June 10, 2023
Marin Voice by MOC leaders Ruth Vosmek and Lauren Vreeland-Long: "County needs to raise wages for in-home health workers" – June 18, 2023

On January 24, the Marin County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing to consider adopting an updated Housing Element. The Housing Element is a plan that identifies the community’s housing needs and sets out policies and programs to meet those needs. State law requires California cities and counties to update their Housing Elements every eight years and assigns the number of new homes individual communities must plan for. The updated plan proposed over 2,200 new homes for low- and moderate-income people. As expected, there was strong opposition, but with MOC’s support, the Board of Supervisors adopted a robust Housing Element.

MOC celebrates the official approval of the redevelopment of a former skilled nursing facility at 1251 S. Eliseo Drive in Larkspur as a new Project Homekey site which will provide at least 43 new units of permanent supportive housing. 

Project Homekey was launched in 2020 through an effort by the State of California to protect people experiencing homelessness from the risks of COVID-19. Since the project's inception, MOC has been a strong supporter, having previously taken the position that the County needed to really step up to provide more permanent solutions to addressing homelessness, especially as the REST program came to a close. In 2020, we supported two successful projects in Marin, one in San Rafael, the other in Corte Madera, which supplied a total of 63 new units of permanent supportive housing.

In early 2021, a second round of Homekey funding was announced, and after a period of searching, the County identified the site at 1251 S. Eliseo Drive as a potential candidate. In partnership with Episcopal Community Services, Marin’s primary development sponsor, the County submitted its proposal for this site in November 2021. MOC immediately rallied our leaders to gather support at community meetings. We met with ECS leadership to learn more about the project and with each of the Supervisors to urge their support. We showed up at multiple meetings held by ECS and the County, as well as the Larkspur City Council, sharing our years-long experiences with our unhoused neighbors.

On February 10th, 2022, the State announced the allotment of over $15 million in funding to the County of Marin, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors announced that the vote to accept the funds would be considered at their meeting on February 15th. Springing into action, hundreds of MOC leaders signed and shared our petition, garnering over 800 signatures; wrote hundreds of emails to County Supervisors; and spoke up over several hours at the February 15th meeting, both in person and over Zoom. Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve the acceptance of State funds and to officially move forward with the project. 

Throughout this process, MOC has been a staunch supporter of this project, even amidst a vicious misinformation campaign opposing it. We are ecstatic that this project will finally be moving forward, providing much needed housing for our community’s most vulnerable neighbors. 

Learn more about this project here: https://www.1251seliseo.com/

Read more about this project's history from the following Marin County press releases:

• September 21, 2021
• February 10, 2022
• February 15, 2022

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, MOC has diligently worked to secure protections for those most affected by the upheavals of these difficult times.

Most recently, on June 3rd, MOC leaders participated in a statewide IAF action for renter protections that resulted in the governor and state legislators extending the eviction moratorium and expanding the rent relief program.

Read more from West/Southwest IAF here.
Read Bishop Cantú’s op-ed on the subject here.

Here in Marin, MOC celebrates the recent decision made by Marin County, the cities of San Rafael and Novato, and other cities throughout Marin to pool nearly $2 million to hire case managers to address homelessness in Marin. Furthermore, the San Anselmo Town Council recently approved a rent freeze for tenants unable to afford rent increases due to the pandemic.

Read MOC member Pat Langley’s opinions on these two recent developments in these articles from the Marin Independent Journal:

Marin could pool up to $2 million for homeless initiative [PDF]
San Anselmo passes pandemic rent freeze ordinance [PDF]

And recently in Mill Valley, MOC leaders partnered with member institution MVCAN to support affordable housing at the City Council meeting on June 21st. Read more in this petition for affordable housing in Mill Valley.

The city councils of San Rafael and Novato as well as the Marin County Board of Supervisors are considering pooling nearly $2 million to hire case managers to help address homelessness in Marin. The funds for this effort are coming from federal aid from the American Rescue Plan. The aim is to hire up to eight case managers, each of whom can serve 17 clients, meaning the funding will ultimately benefit a total of 136 homeless people. These case managers can assist the homeless by helping them transition into housing made available through Project Roomkey and Project Homekey.

Read more from the Marin Independent Journal: Marin could pool up to $2 million for homeless initiative (PDF)

Marin Organizing Committee’s hard work has paid off as San Rafael, Novato, and Marin County have enacted rent increase moratoriums in areas most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. MOC has advocated for a freeze on rent increases since last summer, when it became clear that the economic effects of COVID-19 would be leaving renters saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. With statewide protections on the verge of expiring, MOC leaders redoubled their efforts in the new year. On January 18th, 200 MOC leaders gathered on Zoom for an action with Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni and San Rafael City Councilmembers Rachel Kertz and Maika Llorens Gulati. At the action, MOC asked these elected officials to commit to working with MOC and to support rent freeze ordinances. 

The next day, on January 19th, the San Rafael City Council voted unanimously to enact a moratorium on rent increases in the Canal neighborhood through the end of 2021. And the following week, on January 26th, the Novato City Council followed suit, voting unanimously to approve a rent freeze in three city census tracts hardest hit by the pandemic that would also last through the end of the year. 

On February 9th, the Marin County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a ban on rent increases in parts of unincorporated Marin County, thereby including those who reside outside city limits who would be left unprotected by the Novato and San Rafael ordinances.

These emergency measures will provide thousands of families much-needed time to recover from the devastating financial impacts of the pandemic. MOC leaders will continue to fight for expanded emergency protections and an equitable and smooth distribution of rental assistance funds to renters and landlords.

Read more:

• January 1, 2021: Marin activists seek rent freeze during coronavirus crisis, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
• January 21, 2021: San Rafael bans rent hikes in pandemic-stressed Canal, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
• January 31, 2021: Novato enacts limited rent freeze for pandemic relief, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
• February 6, 2021: Marin County weighs pandemic rent freeze in 2 census tracts, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
• February 6, 2021: Marin County weighs pandemic rent freeze in 2 census tracts, The Mercury News [pdf]
• February 7, 2021: Marin Voice: County supervisors should approve rent-increase moratorium – by MOC's own Sami Mericle and Marta Villela, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
• February 9, 2021: Marin supervisors freeze rent in parts of county, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
  

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marin Organizing Committee (MOC) has been strongly advocating for renter protections. Here is an overview of the events that transpired between March and September of 2020 in this regard:

March 15^th – MOC sent a letter to the Marin County Board of Supervisors as well as every mayor and city council member in the county calling for a moratorium on evictions at the local level if the state failed to enact such such a ban by April 1st.

March 24^th – The Marin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a resolution putting into effect a moratorium on evictions through May 31^st.

Mid-April: MOC called upon the Board of Supervisors to adopt an ordinance that would provide tenants with a window of at least 180 days following the end of the local state of emergency to pay back rent owed to landlords. They also "urged the supervisors to take bolder action to prohibit landlords from harassing and intimidating tenants." [1]

Every month from April through July, MOC urged the Board to extend the moratorium on evictions through members emailing their supervisors and by making statements at Board meetings. During the April meeting of the Board of Supervisors, a dozen Spanish-speaking renters submitted their stories to be read by MOC members during the meeting, describing their struggles with affording to pay rent amidst unemployment due to the pandemic.

April 28^th – The Marin County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution granting an extra 90 days for tenants to repay back rent after the moratorium on evictions was to expire on May 31^st.

May 26^th – The Board voted to extend the moratorium on residential evictions through June 30^th.

June 24^th – The moratorium was extended again, through July 31^st.

July 6^th – MOC held an assembly with State Senator Mike McGuire in which he committed to working with MOC to support statewide renter protections.

July 29^th – The Board voted to further extend the residential eviction ban for an additional two months, through September 30^th.

August – Members of MOC advocated that supervisors increase funding for legal services to assist tenants facing eviction and to "consider ways to help renters who are unable to pay back missed rent after the ban expires to 'stem the tidal wave of evictions that looms.'" [2]

MOC also held two civic academies to learn about the impending eviction crisis that Marin was facing. The meetings involved a discussion of MOC's agenda of emergency measures that the Board of Supervisors could enact to protect Marin's thousands of renter households from eviction in the following months: funding rental assistance and legal services, prohibiting evictions because of debt caused by COVID-19, giving renters a longer time frame to repay rent, and preventing rent increases during the pandemic.

Early September – MOC proposed the following five steps that supervisors should take to protect renters:

1. Amend Marin’s eviction moratorium through December
2. Prohibit evictions based on rental debt accrued during the coronavirus crisis
3. Freeze rent increases and late fees during the state emergency
4. Provide more time for renters to pay back rent
5. Devote more funds to rental assistance and legal services [3]

September 15^th – Legal Aid of Marin, a member organization of MOC, received $310,000 from Marin County to provide legal services to low-income renters and mediation of landlord-tenant disputes. Marin County supervisors also allocated $90,000 to "help underwrite neutral mediation services available to both landlords and tenants provided by the consumer protection unit of the Marin County District Attorney’s Office." [4]

Throughout the entirety of the pandemic, MOC has advocated at the city and county level for rental assistance funding, resulting in over $3 million dollars allocated so far.

Sources

1. April 21, 2020 – Marin renters allotted $1M more in pandemic aid, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
2. July 29, 2020 – Marin County extends eviction ban through September, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
3. August 30, 2020 – Marin supervisors urged to head off eviction surge, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]
4. September 15, 2020 – Marin supervisors set aside $400,000 for legal help for renters, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]

On September 18, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1876, expanding access to the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) to immigrant workers.

The California IAF, including MOC, was instrumental in pushing for this change, providing much-needed relief during the COVID-19 pandemic to immigrants. In April 2020, the California IAF and the California Catholic Conference wrote letters to Governor Newsom, urging him to expand the CalEITC to include ITIN filers, many of whom are undocumented. And on May 5, 2020 over 1,200 California IAF leaders, 10 Bishops, and 7 state legislators converged on Zoom and Facebook Live to demand the Governor and legislature provide immediate relief for essential workers left out of state and federal relief.

Both non-citizen immigrant households, as well as mixed-status families in which one tax filer has a Social Security Number while the other does not, directly benefit from the expansion of California’s anti-poverty tax credits. Governor Newsom’s elimination of the arbitrary exclusion of Californians who file their taxes with a federally-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) from the up to $2,982 CalEITC, and the up to $1,000 Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) is historic. California is only the second state in the country to take action to address this inequity.

Despite community-wide power outages—and a last minute change in venue—700 Marin Organizing Committee leaders assembled at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael on October 27th, 2019 for their 10th Anniversary Convention.

24 hours before the assembly, leaders learned that the planned location for their convention, the Marin Civic Center, would be needed as a local command center to address power outages and host fire evacuees from Sonoma County. Demonstrating flexibility, leaders quickly relocated the assembly to a synagogue down the street. With 99% of the county left without power (in an effort to prevent more fires), MOC demonstrated the power of organized people with the tenacity and resilience to show up against the odds.

Using a generator and portable mic system, leaders from 22 institutions ratified their agenda of issues moving into 2020, reported 75% progress on a $100,000 investment campaign, and celebrated 10 years of citizen power in Marin County. In the midst of anxiety-ridden uncertainty, MOC proved our people can and will show up.

Read more about the 10th Anniversary Convention:

Nonpartisan Marin activist organization gathers to chart future course,  Marin Independent Journal  [ pdf ]
Amid fires, Rodef Sholom pinch hits as host for Marin Organizing Committee's 10-year celebration, J. [pdf]
Marin Voice: MOC Ready to Practice Revolutionary Patience with New Issues Agenda, Marin Independent Journal [pdf]