Cal Poly should fast track student housing

After reading Andy Pease’s commentary (Tribune, July 29), it appears our City Council still doesn’t get it. If our City Council truly believes rezoning our residential neighborhoods to allow Auxiliary Dwelling Units will result in affordable housing for workers who are currently commuting to SLO, they are living in a dream world.

Realistically, the vast majority of the proposed ADU’s would likely end up filled with college students. Meanwhile, Cal Poly continues on its historical path of building too few dorms, too late. When Cal Poly does get around to building dorms, they choose grandiose 5-star, hotel-like structures such as Grand Avenue and Slack Street – dorms that many students cannot afford.

If Cal Poly were truly a responsible neighbor, it would fast track affordable, on-campus housing. Cal Poly probably could have built two or three times the housing capacity (number of beds) for the cost of their extravagant showcase at Grand and Slack.

And let us not forget that Cal Poly has admitted many students who are “food insecure.”

Wouldn’t modest, affordable on-campus housing go a long way toward alleviating these problems for our city and Cal Poly students?

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 2:59 PM.