SLO County leaders strike landmark deal to pump millions of dollars into affordable housing
BY MONICA VAUGHAN
THE TRIBUNE
December 04, 2018 07:51 PM
Updated December 04, 2018 08:21 PM
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After years of stalemate about how to ease the affordable housing crisis in San Luis Obispo County, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday compromised on a historic, bipartisan plan that will generate millions of dollars to build workforce homes.
The new housing deal was recommended by a coalition of community organizations as a way to generate more homes for multiple levels of incomes, specifically low-income and working families in a county where second homes have made up a bulk of construction in recent decades.
The plan calls for fees on new homes over 2,200 square feet to help fund low-income housing — a reform to the home-builder fees that conservatives dislike — and to reform the environmental permitting process to streamline projects and get more housing to market — a precarious proposal for environmentalists.
A new region-wide infrastructure and housing plan was also built in to the deal; supervisors directed staff to work with city officials and other community members to identify infrastructure projects that will sustain a growing population.