Golden Gate Village residents have more worries than hopes about the renovation of their homes in Marin City’s large public housing project.

Marin Housing Authority officials have been reaching out to 88 households in the 300-unit complex it manages who will be temporarily moved to nearby apartments as top-to-bottom renovations unfold among 14 buildings along the campus’s eastern flank.

The ability to return to former homes and the details surrounding relocating was the focus of a resident council meeting on Monday.

“I don’t trust Marin County Board of Supervisors nor the housing authority because they haven’t been honest, they haven’t been forthright, they haven’t been respectful and held us in high esteem,” said Beverly Jones, a member of the council.

She cited county documents that said “general demolition of interiors and exteriors of buildings and units is required for the full scope of rehabilitation” and said that county officials wanted to see the complex gutted, gentrified and Marin City’s Black community disappear.

Royce McLemore, another member of the council who has sued the housing authority over habitability issues, agreed. “They’ve never wanted us here.”

Marin Housing Authority officials said they have struggled to counter accusations and correct rumors.

“The reality is no building is being torn down,” said Mike Andrews, a Marin Housing Authority consultant. “We are doing our best to share information with residents and have taken a variety of tacks to get information to them, including large group meetings, one-on-one meetings, written information. We keep increasing our outreach.”

The agency has been contacting households to update their leases so they can return to fully refurbished apartments and to plan for moving and storage, Marin Housing Authority Executive Director Kimberly Carroll said. Of 50 families that had an overdue balance on rents, only four have not yet made payment plans.

No household that is current on rent or has a payment plan will be evicted, Carroll said. During reconstruction, which is slated to begin next winter, residents must pay their current rent. The housing authority will cover the moving and relocation costs. Temporary residences will be furnished.

“The buildings will look the same but better from the outside,” Andrews said. “The units will look the same but better from the inside.”“We’re touching every surface,” he said, saying windows, floors, walls, cabinets, appliances, wiring, heating and plumbing will be replaced.

Other resident council members said the renovations were overdue and badly needed, but voiced other concerns.

“I feel like going through the walls is necessary,” said Sheila Robson, saying mold and broken plumbing has caused health issues for family. “They’re all going to be half done because they’re stretching the money. We have to find a way to come together with this so everybody can live comfortably here.”

“I’m all for cleaning it out, to do it right, but not to tear it down,” said Natalie Broomfield, a 25-year resident. “I have my emotional thoughts about where are we going to go? Where’s my stuff going? Where am I? I have things I can’t do; stairs. I can’t be around second-hand smoke.”

She said the housing authority has not yet told her where she will be temporarily placed. She worried that the construction in neighboring buildings could drive pests and vermin from one structure to the next and wanted the housing authority to be more proactive with pest control now.

Broomfield’s biggest fear is what other council members alluded to, that she had no other home than Golden Gate Village.

“I can’t put all that stuff in my car and live in my car or in a tent, because that’s what would happen if they tear it down completely,” she said.

Carroll said it was imperative that every tenant become current on rent or make a payment plan.

“Some families are just not even responding to us at all,” she said. “We have knocked on doors. We’ve made phone calls. We’ve put letters on people’s doors. We’ve mailed letters. The letters give resources like who are the agencies you can go to to get help.”

“There will come a point if people don’t respond we will have to move forward with an eviction notice,” Carroll said. “And this has nothing to do with the revitalization. People just need to be paying their rent.”