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Workshops planned to assist SLO community members in finding affordable housing

Courtesy: Rachel Showalter

The housing crisis we’re seeing in San Luis Obispo is mirrored across California, with not enough affordable housing to meet the needs of community members.

Now the city is partnering with a real estate company aimed at connecting low-income people with affordable housing opportunities.

City staff acknowledge the need for more affordable housing units locally. In fact, one of the city’s major goals is to address housing and homelessness.

“It’s always a challenging market out there and we could always use more affordable units for sure,” said San Luis Obispo Housing Policy and Programs Manager Teresa McClish.

She said developing enough unit capacity is equally as important as helping people understand how to access those units. So the city has partnered with a company called HouseKeys to help improve their affordable housing program.

“This really is a program to increase transparency, efficiency, equity, all of that, for our community members and our professionals out there who are really working hard to make affordable housing a reality and for those folks who are really in need of housing opportunities in the city,” McClish said.

The city is now working with HouseKeys to host two upcoming workshops for community members. The first is on June 10.

McClish said it’s aimed at helping housing and real estate industry leaders better understand the complex procedures surrounding affordable homeownership and rental opportunities.

“They can learn about the program and learn how to be involved in it and help promote it and help get more and more affordable housing transactions done in the community,” McClish said.

The second workshop is on June 11. That’s for moderate-to-low-income community members interested in applying to live in units that are deed-restricted, which in this case means they have affordability requirements.

“[Community members can learn] how they could become certified and eligible and how to get on an interest list and when lotteries might happen and what kinds of units they might be able to find,” McClish said.

Both workshops will be held at the San Luis Obispo Public Library and will be accessible via Zoom as well. More workshop information is available here.

Rachel Showalter first joined KCBX as an intern from Cal Poly in 2017. During her time in college, she anchored and reported for Mustang News at Cal Poly's radio station, KCPR. After graduating, she took her first job as a Producer at KSBY-TV. She returned to the KCBX team in October 2020, reporting daily for KCBX News until she moved to the Pacific Northwest in July of 2022. Rachel spends her off-days climbing rocks, cooking artichokes and fighting crosswords with friends.
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