The City of San Luis Obispo is proposing an update to their Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, which is one of the tools the city uses to increase the supply of affordable housing locally.
The proposed ordinance would require building developers to set aside five percent of new housing infrastructure for low income residents. Right now, the city only requires developers to set aside three percent.
Teresa McClish, the Housing Policy and Programs Manager for the City of San Luis Obispo said, “the big picture is the housing affordability crisis is significant, it’s taken a lot of work on a lot of different fronts.”
The city started this process in 2020 after conducting a feasibility study. Since the ordinance was established in 1999, they have been able to build over 1200 units that are deed restricted. That means there are certain conditions on the unit, which in this case is an affordable housing requirement.
McClish said, “we want to make sure we have housing available for everyone and that is an important component in all our city goals, for our diversity equity inclusion goal, and for economic development purposes.”
McClish admits this will not solve the city’s housing crisis entirely, but she is hopeful it will make an impact. She said, “it’s a good tool because it does allow us to make sure that at least a percentage of new homes going in are going to be deed-restricted toward affordable housing limits.”
The proposal will be discussed at the next planning commission meeting on June 8. If the ordinance is approved, new housing could be required to include five percent affordable units by September. Currently the city is accepting public comment at slocity.org.
This ordinance proposal comes amid a nationwide housing crisis, made worse by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The state of California has also created a Housing Accountability Unit to help enforce housing regulations to address the housing crisis.
