New affordable housing is coming to San Luis Obispo and the city has opened up a drawing for a dozen studio units.
The new apartment complex on Foothill Blvd., The Summit, has a total of 78 housing units and 12 of them are considered affordable housing.
It’s no secret housing on the Central Coast is scarce with the cost of living being a barrier for many residents.
“My cost of living here is about $950 plus utilities for me. I split a duplex with three other roommates. I think housing is a human right and in the perfect world, it shouldn’t cost any money to have a place to live or shelter at all," said Cal Poly student Chris Raynes.
The city has implemented a new lottery-style system in which names will be drawn out of an application pool to apply for these units. The city says it’s a way to provide “fair and equitable” access to affordable housing.
Many community members took to social media posting comments expressing concerns over the housing drawing.
“The city does recognize it is a frustrating process to get people into affordable housing," said San Luis Obispo City Housing Coordinator Kyle Bell.
City officials stated that previously, the city would have to go through a list of about 500 interested individuals and contact each, but this new system will help save the city time.
“This opportunity drawing is an opportunity to improve upon that in that those who are interested in this specific project can enter into this drawing," explained Bell.
Anybody who is within the “very low income” category based on household size can apply to the housing drawing.
“A very low-income household is, for example, making an income of up to 30% to 50% of the area median income," said Bell.
“We need more affordable housing and with this new complex they’re building with only 12 units for affordable, I think there needs to be far more," said Raynes.
City officials say there are 250 affordable housing units coming to San Luis Obispo in the next five to six years which will offer more variety of units.
The deadline to enter the current drawing is Tuesday, August 16 at 5 p.m.
The city said people can still apply after the deadline but applying before then will lock you into better standing. The drawing results will be published online on or around August 26.
You can find more information on this website.
