New affordable housing opens at Paso Robles homeless shelter. Here’s a look inside
Homeless residents in the North County will get a housing lifeline in Paso Robles starting next month.
The Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) on Tuesday began accepting 300 applications for 60 affordable housing units located at the Motel 6-turned-homeless-shelter off Riverside Avenue.
The first 10 families to live in the units will move into their new studio apartments in early March, with the remainder of the new tenants arriving in stages, said Elaine Archer, HASLO director of housing management.
Most apartments will house a single person or groups of two, although some adjoining rooms could have enough space for larger families, Archer said.
North County residents who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless are strongly encouraged to apply for the apartments. Tenants will pay 30% of their income toward the rent — the rest will be covered by HASLO.
The units are income-restricted and open to undocumented residents. Single homeless applicants must earn $33,950 or less, and families of two must earn $38,800 or less. Individual applicants at risk of becoming homeless must earn $20,400 or less, and families of two must earn $23,300 or less.
HASLO will have accessible units available for disabled residents, Archer said.
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New apartments on the same property as Paso Robles homeless shelter
The apartments are located on the same property as the city’s new homeless shelter, which operates out of 40 to 50 of the motel’s remaining rooms.
HASLO, the El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO) and Peoples’ Self-Help Housing received about $14 million in state Homekey funding in October to purchase the motel and turn it into the shelter and apartments.
The city also provided an additional $1.5 million in state money that was previously set aside to fund the construction of a new homeless shelter, a project that later fell through.
Paso Robles is home to at least 221 unsheltered homeless residents, according to San Luis Obispo County’s last point-in-time homeless census.
The creation of the facility was a landmark event for the city, which has long lacked a shelter or significant homeless services. With few places to go, many unsheltered residents continue to camp in the Salinas Riverbed area.
The homeless shelter portion of the facility opened in late December, with 20 to 25 rooms available for nightly stays. ECHO recently also moved its nightly meal service to the new shelter from its previous location on the corner of 24th Street and Riverside Avenue.
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What do the apartments look like?
The new studio apartments make use of the old hotel furniture and televisions, with the addition of a refrigerator, microwave and a comfortable chair.
Without kitchens, the apartments are not eligible for federal Section 8 funding subsidies. But the Homekey allocation provides enough money to pay tenants’ rental subsidies for a year and a half, Archer said.
Eventually, HASLO plans to renovate the apartments, add kitchens and turn them into Section 8 units, Archer said.
Archer said having the shelter and affordable apartments situated so close together creates a “good relationship” between the two types of housing. Some affordable housing residents will likely have stayed at the shelter, and it provides an aspirational element to those still without permanent housing.
“Having (the apartments) here gives everyone hope,” she said. “And this is what we’re working towards.”
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How to apply for housing
Those interested in applying for the studio apartments should visit haslo.org. Applicants who need help applying online should call 805-534-3917 or email S8@haslo.org.
Paper applications will not be provided, and an email address is required for the online form.
Residents without computer access should call America’s Job Center at 805-286-8530 to set up an appointment to use their computers at 3450 Broad St., #103, in San Luis Obispo.
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
