Housing for Homeless Veterans Takes Big Step

June 15, 2020

Architectural rendering of veterans housing at Homeward Bound of Marin

Our plan to end veteran homelessness in Marin took a big step with two funding commitments to help build 24 small apartments for homeless veterans.

This expansion of our supportive housing programs in Novato will be Phase 1 of a larger project on 2.8 acres adjoining the main campus for Homeward Bound of Marin.

The Novato City Council voted June 9 to grant $750,000 from in-lieu housing funds to offset development fees for the veterans’ housing. The state’s Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program on June 12 announced a $3 million grant for the project.

Completing Phase 1 will cost an estimated $10 million and could begin in 2021. The additional phases would include 26 apartments for individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness as well as a manufacturing kitchen for social enterprise businesses like our Wagster Treats dog biscuits.

In January, the Novato Design Review Commission unanimously approved exterior design and landscape plans for the site. An array of dilapidated warehouses now occupies the property, known as the “HUD Parcel.”

Read more about the plan in a recent article by the Marin Independent Journal.