More housing in San Luis Obispo will benefit businesses, the community and the environment.
The building of new homes has not kept pace with the rate at which new jobs have been added. This has a huge impact on the local economy as new as well as established businesses and organizations struggle to recruit and keep employees, as families can only find affordable housing farther away from the places they work and go to school.
The local housing crisis affects all of these things and we are hard at work collaborating with all interested parties, officials, businesses and community members to create solutions and discuss how to move forward.
Your involvement is paramount. Below we offer a short guide, created with the help of others, complete with tools, ideas and simple steps to facilitate your involvement. More voices are needed to make progress and find solutions, so arm yourself with some basics and jump into the fray.
This imbalance is not sustainable. Now we need to focus on moving towards a solution, and how to improve the lives of residents, the environment we live in, and the ability for people to pursue their passions in the place they love.
Tools to get involved
Want to join the conversation and have your voice heard? Not sure how to make that happen? We have compiled some resources that explain how easy it is to write a letter, speak at a meeting and make a difference.
Writing a letter
Talking at a San Luis Obispo City meeting
Want to know more about what is going on at the city? Register to receive email updates here.
Watch public meetings including Planning Commission and City Council here.
Recent Chamber housing advocacy
For the past number of years, the SLO Chamber has been researching and advocating on behalf of the business community, and residents, for clear policy reforms that would streamline the planning and development process, and unlock opportunities to create more housing.
Want proof? Check the links below.
2024 SLO County Housing Summit
Peoples Self Help Housing and the City of SLO received $19.4 million for Homekey Program
Inclusionary housing ordinance
Inagural partnership & supportive housing addition
County invests in supportive housing
SLO Chamber supports regional collaboration on housing & infrastructure
Letter regarding the City of SLO’s zoning regulations
Letter regarding updated to the City of SLO’s impact fees
Innovative solutions
“Using the Vulcan printer, ICON can print an entire home for $10,000 and plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house.” This cheap 3D-printed home is a start for the 1 billion who lack shelter, The Verge
“There’s a lot of single-family zoning in the center of our cities, and urban planners, civil society, and city leaders are questioning whether these zoning rules make sense. We’re missing dwellings that can house more people and are more affordable, such as duplexes, triplexes, and ADUs.” The Granny Flats Are Coming, City Lab
“The same cities that struggle to provide affordable housing today eliminated their critical-but-maligned flexible housing stock after World War II.” When America’s Basic Housing Unit Was a Bed, Not a House, City Lab
“We found that these local governments are imposing discretionary review processes on all residential development projects of five or more units within their borders. That means even if these developments comply with the underlying zoning code, they require additional scrutiny from the local government before obtaining a building permit.” Getting it Right: Examining the Local Land Use Entitlement Process in California to Inform Policy and Process, UC Berkeley Law School
“After Minneapolis slashed parking requirements, developers started to produce more affordable mid-rise apartment buildings instead of luxury high-rises.” How Parking Mandates Tilt the Market Toward “Luxury” Housing, Streetsblog USA
“Getting zoning right requires a nuanced understanding of many interacting forces, and constant revision and adjustment. As it enters its second century, zoning remains a powerful but imperfect tool, but among the best we have for shaping cities.” Zoning’s next century, SPUR
“Recent reports have demonstrated that more young workers are deciding to pick up and move from high cost cities to places with more affordable housing. Insufficient housing that is affordable to the workforce puts at risk the sustainability of the economy as the region has increasing difficulty attracting and retaining workers.” Seven Innovative Affordable Housing Strategies in Higher Cost Markets: Lessons from Around the U.S., Hand
“While incredible new materials transform what we build, artificial intelligence and virtual reality are revolutionizing how we design.” Peter Diamandis – Revolutionizing Construction + Real Estate
What others are saying
“In 2023, 24.8% fewer homes were sold in California than in 2022 — the largest single-year decline in home sales since 2007, the report found.”
– ‘Sluggish’ 2023 housing market close, The Tribune, 2024
“The county is so far from meeting its state-mandated affordable housing goals that it must permit the development of another 1,604 affordable housing units by the end of 2028.”
– SLO County is way behind on its affordable housing goals, The Tribune, 2024
“The city has issued more than 2,126 permits for above-moderate-income housing — far exceeding its 1,406-unit goal for the current cycle — but has built just 21% of the 1,948 below-market-rate homes.”
– SLO short on affordable housing, The Tribune, 2024
“The City of San Luis Obispo was recently recognized by the State of California as a prohousing community, which means San Luis Obispo now has a competitive advantage for more funding incentives and additional resources.”
– City of SLO named a ‘Prohousing City’, City of SLO, 2024
“The last time the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors had a big conversation about housing, the average price of homes was $100,000 cheaper than it is now.”
– As housing prices rise, SLO County supervisors look at big policy change, The Tribune
“A pair of large projects could add almost 450 homes in SLO County.”
– SLO County Planning Commission, The Tribune, 2024