Rent is too high in SLO County, but candidates are short on policy answers at forum
In the first candidate forum leading up to the March election in San Luis Obispo County, candidates for the county Board of Supervisors failed to present clear policy solutions for one of the most important issues facing residents: a lack of affordable housing and high rents.
Former Atascadero mayor Ellen Beraud is challenging two-term incumbent Debbie Arnold for the District 5 seat on the county Board of Supervisors in the March 3 election. On Thursday evening, they responded to questions about workforce housing, rent affordability and other issues at a forum in Atascadero sponsored by the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
Beraud has identified “next-generation housing” as a priority issue in her campaign, and says on her website that “through the development of smaller, ‘affordable by design’ homes and mixed-use buildings, we can begin addressing the housing crisis, while still preserving our scenic open spaces and small town charm.”
But at the forum, Beraud did not expand on her policies. She mentioned supporting apartment buildings and criticized Arnold for not doing enough to have affordable housing projects in the works.
Neither of the candidates seem to grasp the impact of short-term vacation rentals like Airbnb listings on affordable housing and rents.
Housing isn’t even identified as a priority in Arnold’s campaign. In person, she lauded the current board’s decision to rewrite regulations to allow more secondary spaces like backyard granny units within unincorporated areas of the county.
Neither presented a broad or specific vision for how to address the monumental problem that plagues most of California. They’ll have another shot at it at the next forum. New Times is hosting one at 6 p.m., January 22 at the county Government Center Board Chambers on Monterey St. in SLO.
District 5 candidates on rent control and Airbnb
In response to questions about affordable rent, neither candidate said they support county-enforced rent control, calling it government overreach and ineffective.
Beraud blamed high rent on a lack of supply of housing and expressed support for more apartment buildings as a solution, saying that with increased supply, “prices will go down.”
“It’s important we welcome apartment complexes into our county” and make sure they’re developed around transportation corridors, she said.
Both candidates failed to demonstrate an understanding of how a boom in short-term vacation rentals through Airbnb and VRBO can drive up the price of rent for residents — which contributes to a condition where young families are overburdened by high rents while vacation homes sit empty next door for most of the year.
“I don’t think short-term rentals would have much of an affect on rentals in general,” Beraud said, adding that rentals are more of an issue of neighborhood compatibility.
In fact, an analysis of the economic costs and benefits of Airbnb by the Economic Policy Institute says “evidence suggests that the presence of Airbnb raises local housing costs” by reducing supply.
While Arnold mentioned the county board’s work to regulate short-term vacation rentals, and restrictions in coastal towns, she too failed to make the connection to housing supply or costs.
Arnold offered that coastal towns like Cayucos started as a vacation village of second homes, and now owners of those second homes want to use Airbnb rentals to cover maintenance costs to keep their property.
Supervisors have to balance that, she said, with “trying to ensure neighborhoods don’t become hotel rows.”
Meanwhile, more than 60% of county residents rent their housing and increasingly struggle to afford it.
What SLO County has done for affordable housing
The county has been slow to address the growing housing problem as stagnant wages fail to keep up with growing rents and housing costs that remain out of reach for many in the workforce.
The Board of Supervisors did adopt a landmark package of policies to pump money into affordable housing projects proposed by a group called the Coalition of Housing Partners, which is concerned about the affect of housing prices on the local economy.
Meanwhile, rents have grown. As of last summer, residents making minimum wage had to work 99 hours a week to afford a fair market $1,542 two-bedroom house or apartment in San Luis Obispo County, according to a national report on low income housing.
A new state law called the Tenant Protection Act took some of the pressure off of local governments to solve the problem by limiting landlords’ ability to increase rents.
A cap on rent increase went into effect Jan. 1 and allows landlords to increase annual rents up to 5% plus the rate of inflation each year for a total maximum of 10% a year. It also requires landlords to have a just cause for eviction.
Arnold, Beraud on housing prices and workforce housing
Arnold blamed a shortage of housing inventory on an old no-growth housing policy and piling regulations that have increased housing costs.
“Nobody wants to see San Luis Obispo County built over,” Arnold said. “By zoning, carefully planning, design build — so we have houses at various sizes so people have starter houses that they might be able to afford — and streamlining the process of course, I think we can make housing more affordable.”
She said it was a “big step” to open up regulations to “open up secondary dwellings in larger lots and tiny homes.”
Beraud underscored the importance of affordable and workforce housing to the local economy, while taking a general swipe at Arnold.
“The incumbent has shown a failure of leadership by not having projects lined up. Affordable housing is a problem that never goes away, so you need to be constantly working and having projects in the pipeline. And it takes a great deal of effort to coordinate all the agencies involved to get that done,” she said.
She didn’t expand on what kind of projects should be taken on.
Neither candidate specifically discussed other broad policies, including inclusionary housing, which requires developers to include a portion of homes as affordable or pay a fee that funds affordable housing projects.
Three of five county board seats will be decided in March, and affordable housing is an important issue to residents. Housing is identified as a top issue to county residents who’ve participated in an on-going Tribune election poll.
District 5 includes Atascadero, Santa Margarita, California Valley, Creston and portions of Templeton and San Luis Obispo.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 3:26 PM.
