RBRA’s push fueled by state’s strong support

In recent months, the Richardson's Bay Regional Agency has made impressive progress in reducing the number of so-called “liveaboards” anchored illegally in the bay.

At one point, the count exceeded 240 boats, including many that were barely floating or unseaworthy. Many were not registered.

In September, the county was 57.

That reduction is due to RBRA's diligence toward complying with the state's environmental order that the local agency crackdown on boatdwellers who have flouted the 72-hour anchorage limit in the bay.

RBRA is in the midst of a five-year legally binding timeline the state has given it to clean up the bay. The deadline is October 2026.

Most of the recent progress has been made thanks to RBRA's program of buying the boats, with an agreement that the agency will dispose of the vessel and boat owners will leave the bay.

A new phase of this initiative has been formed with the Marin Housing Authority thanks to a one-time, threeyear $3 million state grant, the product of state Sen. Mike McGuire's pledge to help with the cleanup.

That financing represents the state's investment in the cleanup, backing up its order that extended anchorages are damaging the bay's environment. Especially the loss of underwater eel grass, the beds of which are a vital habitat.

Half of the cash will go toward buying long-parked boats, many of which are either unseaworthy or unlicensed. And half will pay for landside housing for displaced owners of those vessels.

RBRA has already been working with the housing authority and the county social services in helping get liveaboards off the water and into housing.

This investment should help finish the job and, finally, bring RBRA into compliance with the state's long standing order.

RBRA has long been under fire from both sides — from environmentalists complaining about its slow progress in cleaning up the bay and from homeless advocates complaining that its crackdown is leaving displaced boaters no place to go. This grant responds to both. Backers of RBRA's program may find it easier to attack the local agency, but their beef should be with the state.

With McGuire's budget amendment, the state is doubling down in its commitment to clear these boats, some of which have been illegally anchored for years.

The grant will provide them with vouchers for local housing and help in finding safe housing and connecting with other services. To qualify, participants must have lived on the bay since June 2022 and meet federal eligibility guidelines as extremely low and very low income.

Of course, some boat owners also have the option to lift anchor and sail out of the bay, away from the 72-hour anchorage limit they have been violating.

For many of the boat-dwellers left, that isn't an option.

Their vessels are not seaworthy and they don't have the cash to repair them.

This partnership provides them with a humane option, one that also furthers RBRA's progress toward meeting its 2026 deadline.