About Marin Housing Authority

The Housing Authority of the County of Marin is a public corporation created pursuant to the Health and Safety Code of the State of California. Housing authorities are authorized to provide decent, safe and sanitary housing for low and moderate income people. 

While enabled under State law, housing authorities are created and governed by local Government, and are principally funded from the Federal government.

Marin Housing is separate and distinct from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), from county government, and from other county and state agencies- much like a special district. Established in 1942 by a local initiative to operate within the county jurisdiction, we are governed locally by a Commission appointed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The Housing Authority Commission currently consists of seven members- the five members of the Board of Supervisors and two public housing tenants. Marin Housing operates programs in the incorporated areas of Marin under Cooperation agreements with the local towns and cities.

There are over 3,000 housing authorities in the United States, which manage over one million units of public housing. Marin Housing is considered a "medium-sized" housing authority.

Marin Housing is proud of a strong organizational culture and set of fundamental values that have been refined over more than half a century of serving our clients. These are the key elements by which we measure our success, and to which each member of our staff is asked to subscribe.

Our organizational culture is based foremost on a sense of teamwork, which demands that important decisions always be made in a group environment.  We focus on the   practicality of what we do, look for win-win decisions, examine alternatives and options, and insist that our decisions be both forward-looking and proactive.

How successful we are at undertaking our responsibilities on a day-by-day basis is tested by four key concepts:

• Are we always working to fulfill our primary mission to serve the community?
• Are we undertaking there tasks in the most efficient, cost-effective way?
• Are we flexible in our work, ready to accept change and alert to the possibility of a better way of do things?
• Are we communicating effectively with our staff, our clients and the public?

Our highest commitment is to the clients that we serve and the citizens of our community. Therefore, we view three essential values as crucial to reaching our organizational goals:

• To always be professional, sincere, accurate and credible in our dealings with others.
• To be responsive to others.
• To seek out innovative and creative ways to address new and evolving issues .