It was a sold-out event at the 2024 SLO County Housing Summit in San Luis Obispo.
While there were a variety of topics discussed at the summit, there was one that most people came to learn about.
“As a renter and resident of San Luis Obispo, I'm curious how our county is going to tackle the housing crisis that we face,” said one attendee.
“The state of California is in a housing crisis," CEO and President of HRM Consultants Jocelyn Brennan explained. "San Luis Obispo is so desirable of a place to live that we're seeing the housing crisis here, really pronounced, too.”
Many people at the summit like the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce Chair of the Board of Directors, Brad Brechwald, believe the main issue is with the high cost of living and limited inventory, meaning local businesses take the hit.
“The issue is that businesses are having a hard time keeping employees because they can't find or live in the area,” Brechwald said.
In her analysis, Brennan outlined that although there has been significant job growth since COVID-19, the housing inventory hasn’t caught up.
In the current cycle from 2020 to 2028, San Luis Obispo County is in need of 10,810 homes, experts say. The good news — more projects and funding have led to an increase in housing permits, up 5% from 2009.
“We're seeing more and more support both in terms of approving projects but also providing funding,” Executive Director for the City of San Luis Obispo Housing Authority, Scott Phillips, said.
“They have made some changes to make it easier to build, to get more Accessory Dwelling Units on the market and create more inventory,” Brennan added.
The topic of affordable housing kicked off the summit but innovations in how to solve that issue were also discussed among a variety of other topics like the housing ladder, innovations in other scarce housing markets throughout the state and other points of interest that drew in a large crowd of community leaders, young people looking to learn about buying a new home, local real estate figureheads and everything in between.
“If you've been fortunate enough to own a home here, you want to be able to have your kids live here, too,” Brennan concluded.
The summit celebrated its 10th year and was the first in-person event since 2019.
