Affordable housing for disabled, seniors to continue at Anderson Hotel in SLO
The Anderson Hotel in San Luis Obispo will remain as affordable housing for vulnerable seniors and disabled adults after federal funding helped the agency managing the property acquire the building.
On Friday, Congressman Salud Carbajal announced that his office secured $2 million in federal funds to preserve affordable housing at the Anderson Hotel, located at 955 Monterey St. in downtown San Luis Obispo.
The $2 million allocation will be granted to the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) so the agency can continue to manage the community, according to a news release.
HASLO will also use the money to make some essential upgrades to the historic building, which was built nearly 100 years ago in 1923.
Some of that funding will go toward seismic retrofitting and redoing the plumbing, electrical and windows.
“This building is 100 years old. It wasn’t built to the seismic standards of today,” said HASLO Executive Director Scott Smith.
In a Tribune report last year, residents at the Anderson Hotel described problems with old carpet and peeling paint.
In 1978, the hotel was refurbished and transitioned into apartments to house elderly and disabled residents, according to a past Tribune report.
It has been an affordable housing community for vulnerable residents for the past four decades.
The $2 million deal Carbajal secured also includes 68 vouchers to make each unit at the Anderson Hotel permanently affordable for the residents.
The average resident is 70 years old and lives on a fixed income of $1,000, according to a description of the project.
The deed restriction will ensure that each residents only pays 30% of their income on rent, with the remainder of the balance paid by HASLO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agency for the next 55 years, according to a description of the project.
This isn’t the only source of funding going to the Anderson Hotel.
The San Luis Obispo City Council approved $1.7 million allocation to the Anderson Hotel project during last week’s City Council meeting, according to the meeting summary.
On March 1, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved $2 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to go toward preserving affordable housing at the property.
These allocations can be used to attract other funding streams to the project, said San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson.
“I think there are going to probably be four or five, at least, different partners in the deal before its done,” Gibson said. “The result is going to be tremendous for permanent housing that folks who really need it can enjoy, right here in San Luis Obispo.”
Affordable housing at Anderson Hotel was in jeopardy last year
A little more than a year ago, the future of the Anderson Hotel was uncertain.
In January 2021, the building was in the process of being sold by the current owners, Bob Miller and Ben McAdams of 995 Partnership, to Mike Kyle, the owner and developer of Granada Hotel & Bistro in San Luis Obispo, according to a past Tribune report.
Scott Smith of HASLO said he was concerned that the sale would impact the vulnerable residents that live at the Anderson Hotel and rely on the affordable and accessible housing option, according to past Tribune reporting.
“We are hopeful that they will have concern and respect for our SLO community and the extremely frail elderly and disabled occupying Anderson,” Smith told The Tribune in January 2021.
The sale was not completed as the 955 Partnership is still described by Carbajal’s office as the current property owners.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
