On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo City Council approved $3,425,000 in new funding for economic development efforts and homeless services in response to the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our top priority is the City’s economic stability, recovery, and resiliency,” said City Manager Derek Johnson. “There is a pressing and immediate need to invest in additional economic development efforts to support businesses and for homeless services to support those unsheltered in our community.”
Economic Development Initiatives to Support Local Businesses
The City will focus on the following four economic development initiatives:
- Invest in grant funding opportunities for businesses going through the Tenant Improvement (TI) permit process, which includes locally investing $2 million in Certificates of Deposit to generate interest that will be used to help offset the cost of the permit. Input from stakeholders over the last several months recommended that reducing the financial impact of completing a TI would be of significant benefit to businesses and assist with re-tenanting vacant spaces.
- Provide an additional $500,000 to fund the City’s Small Business Relief Grant Program, a joint effort among the City, non-profit and business community that was launched in August 2020. This funding will be targeted to those business sectors most impacted by COVID-19 and the State’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.” The City will work with its partners to offer additional opportunities for community members to donate towards the program to maximize the support for small businesses.
- Add $425,000 to support downtown vitality and expand programs such as Open SLO parklets, Mission Plaza Dining and the Light Up Downtown holiday activities. Funding also will go toward other efforts that will be needed as the City continues to respond to the challenges associated with the pandemic and recovery of the Downtown.
- Utilize $200,000 to implement a “shop local” incentive that will incentivize community members to shop locally—individuals would be rewarded, through gift cards for local businesses, for spending money at local brick and mortar locations with the gift cards also generating additional spending at local businesses.
Businesses must be in compliance with local and State public health orders to be eligible for these programs.
Regional and City-Focused Homeless Services
Beginning in 2021, the County of San Luis Obispo will be coordinating an enhanced, regional effort to address the increased impacts of homelessness on the unsheltered, local residents, visitors, and businesses. The City will invest $300,000 in homeless services support and coordination in conjunction with this effort. This is in addition to the General Fund resources the City of San Luis Obispo has dedicated toward homeless services for several.
“The City is dedicated and committed to protecting our most vulnerable, including the unsheltered. Staff from multiple departments and have been focused on doing even more, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Shelly Stanwyck, Assistant City Manager. “The City’s Community Services Work group will continue to actively participate and plan with our partners for a regional effort to leverage our collective resources and care for those community members in need.”
As part of these efforts, the Council authorized a contract employee through the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year. This contract staff member will focus on developing a Homelessness Strategic Plan for the City, building upon existing relationships with the County, cities, other regional partners and nonprofits to maximize services available.
Funding for these initiatives will come from Local Revenue Measure (Measure G-20) revenue from the current fiscal year. Measure G-20 was passed by the voters as part of the November 2020 election and identified priorities included addressing homelessness and retaining local businesses.
For more information about the City’s response to COVID-19, please visit www.slocity.org/covid19 . The City is committed to keeping our community informed.