


Completion of the long-needed repairs and improvements to Sausalito’s Marinship Park marks a full return of this recreational asset to public use.
The park has been partially closed for more than two years. During much of that time, the courts were used for a city-sponsored homeless encampment.
The city’s costly homeless crisis took form as a protest against the removal of illegally anchored boats in Richardson Bay. It started in Dunphy Park, but the city moved the camp to its tennis courts at Marinship Park where campers stayed until they found housing. The camp, which at its peak was home for 30 people, damaged the courts, according to the city.
Two courts were resurfaced and one was turned into two pickleball courts.
The $373,000 park project returns the courts to their intended purpose.
Homeless encampments, in Sausalito and other Marin communities, took form in the wake of a federal court ruling that said that municipalities could not make it unlawful for homeless people to set up camp on public lands if there was no other housing available. That ruling was strengthened during the pandemic, but was later weakened by a 2024 Supreme Court decision that stated that federal courts could not set public policy for dealing with homelessness. The ruling reversed lower courts’ stands that such anti-camping laws amounted to a violation of the Eighth Amendment that bans “cruel and unusual punishment.”
That left local municipalities having to figure out how to accommodate homeless camps.
Across Marin, where “Housing First” strategies had replaced emergency shelters, the progress of getting people out of the camps and into housing was slower, but hopefully more effective.
The permanent housing had to be purchased or built, both which take time and are costly in a county where such opportunities are slim and pricey.
The strategy is based on the premise that permanent housing is more effective in breaking the cycle of homelessness. Turning parks into homeless camps is not an answer. There are public safety and sanitation issues. Besides, permanent housing is safer and more secure than living in a nylon tent, especially during winter storms.
The camp was not without its problems and there were complaints and lawsuits over the conditions in the camp. A 2022 fire on the tennis courts even led the city to declare a state of emergency.
But a combination of state, county and local funding — and vouchers — have led many campers into housing.
In Sausalito’s case, it set the stage for closing the Marinship camp and returning the park to the public recreational asset that it was intended to be.
Mayor Joan Cox calls the reopening of the courts “a dual win for Sausalito and its community.”
The camp, both at Dunphy and Marinship, was a semi-permanent intrusion on the normal public use of a community park. At Marinship, it took the tennis courts out of use and increased the need for their repair.
Other Marin communities are still dealing with the challenges of homelessness and following through with local “Housing First” initiatives.
But Sausalito’s progress on both fronts — addressing the needs of its homeless residents and returning the park to public recreational use — is a sign of success.