Planning & Building

The term “affordable housing” refers to housing that households can rent or buy while keeping housing costs within certain limits. Housing is generally considered affordable if total housing costs do not exceed 30 percent (30%) of household income. The most commonly used categories of affordable housing include housing which is affordable to very low income, low income, or moderate income households. The County also adopted an extremely low income affordably housing category for households earning less than 30 percent (30%) of average median income and a workforce housing income category for workers earning up to 160 percent (160%) of median income.

In addition to HUD grant programs and the County's housing plans & policies, there are several local organizations that can connect you to affordable rentals or housing ownership:

• People's Self-Help Housing Corporation
• Habitat for Humanity for San Luis Obispo County
• Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo

Affordable housing benefits the entire community in the following ways:

• It strengthens the local economy by ensuring that employers have access to high quality workers and by allowing people to spend more of their income on goods and services rather than on housing;
• It can reduce traffic congestion by enabling people to live near their workplaces, shopping, and other frequently visited locations;
• It can protect the environment by providing housing opportunities for people within urban areas as an alternative to living in sensitive habitat areas and agricultural lands;
• It facilitates diversity in the local population by allowing persons and households of all income levels to live in the county; and
• Indirectly, it can improve the health of families by enabling them to spend more time and money on health care, nutrition, education and recreation.