SLO County gets record response on community needs survey. Here’s what residents want
Affordable rental housing, healthcare services and homelessness headlined the issues San Luis Obispo County residents are most concerned about going into 2025, according to a new report released by the county.
A record-high 918 San Luis Obispo County residents participated in this year’s Community Development Needs Assessment — a 264% increase from last year’s assessment, according to a news release from the county summarizing the report.
According to the report, 78% of respondents cited making more affordable rental housing available as their top priority, followed by increasing support for healthcare services, mental health services, homeless prevention and homeless services were the next four highest ranked community needs.
Of the 738 people who responded to a question on their household’s gross annual income, 38% were identified as having a low, very low or extremely low incomes based on household size and income bracket, according to the report.
While 66% of the 918 respondents reported owning their primary residence, 9.6% of respondents said they relied on support from friends, family or assistance programs to own or rent their residence, the report found.
When asked to rank different priorities within five different categories — public services, housing facilities, housing services, public infrastructure, and public facilities — between high, moderate, low and no need, along with no opinion, the category of housing facilities carried the highest weighted average at 3.161.
This shows that housing facilities in San Luis Obispo County — particularly affordable rental housing, single-family housing and senior housing — were viewed as the area of greatest need by most respondents.
Around 77% of the 453 respondents who sought housing since January 2020 said they experienced difficulties securing housing, with over 90% of people facing difficulties citing a lack of available housing options in their budget.
Public services was the second-highest rated category of need, with respondents highlighting healthcare services, mental health services and homeless services as their main areas of concern.
A little over half of the 861 respondents who answered a question on the percentage of their household’s gross monthly income that goes toward housing costs answered that they spent more than 30% of their monthly income on housing, meeting the U.S. Census definition of “cost-burdened.”
Of those 861 respondents, 248 said they spent between 30% and 45% of their income on housing, while another 197 said they spent more than 46% of their income on housing, according to the report.
“We clearly heard from our community that it needs more affordable housing, health services, and homeless services,” Homeless Services Division program manager Marge Castle said in the release. “This largely affirms much of the work already underway and will guide the strategic investments of federal funds for the next five years.”
