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120 new housing units in San Luis Obispo for Cal poly faculty, staff

October 9, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

Cal Poly Partners, a nonprofit that supports the campus community, recently acquired 120 housing units in the newly constructed Harvest Lofts located within the San Luis Ranch development in San Luis Obispo. The units, located off Madonna Road, will be available for rent to faculty and staff with a goal of providing a reliable, hassle-free housing solution for new and current Cal Poly faculty and staff.

“This is a great opportunity to support our faculty and staff as well as the community that they live in,” Cal Poly Partners CEO Cody VanDorn said. “Whether they are transitioning into new role on campus or have been at Cal Poly and in the community for years, Harvest Lofts will be a supportive and conducive environment for their professional and personal growth.”

Just four miles from Cal Poly, Harvest Lofts offer four distinct floor plans, from studio to one-bedroom apartments ranging from 407-square-foot studios to 516-square-foot apartments.

“For years the cost and availability of housing has been a huge challenge for our faculty and staff, and this is the next phase in a planned approach aimed at addressing that,” VanDorn said.

San Luis Ranch is a new neighborhood in San Luis Obispo that includes a mix of residential, commercial, and office uses surrounded by areas of open space and agriculture near Laguna Lake Park and Open Space.

There are currently more than a dozen new homeowners in the San Luis Ranch development who have joined multi-plaintiff lawsuits regarding issues with mold, foundations, structural defects and failures to properly seal structures which has led to rodent infestations in the condo buildings. In addition, those who have purchased condos claim the lack of parking is a major issue.

“With over 1,000 units of demand, access to attainable housing is consistently cited as a major hurdle in hiring and retaining new faculty and staff members,” according to a Cal Poly press release. “Cal Poly Partners, alongside the university, is developing attainable housing program for campus community members.”

 


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Housing like this is “needed” because Cal Poly pays poorly.


How about this: quit buying real estate and pay your workers a living wage for the county you operate in. It’s more decent than providing crappy studios. Respect your workforce.


2

Is Cal Poly Partners tax exempt? If so it seems like it would be a huge loss in tax revenue.


6

I never want to throw rocks at someone for trying to do something good but these housing units, due to their size, are obviously only for individuals without families/children. It feels a bit discriminatory especially since staff are the lowest paid employees at Cal Poly so I’m surmising these housing units are to entice new faculty.


11

These tiny “affordable” homes sound more like dorm rooms than real long-term housing solutions. Tiny, crowded and poorly built. Maybe suitable short-term for singles or young couples, but certainly not for families. The entire San Luis Ranch development is an ant farm and will eventually be a blight on the community. It is too densely populated for quality living. When it is completely built out, over-density of people, traffic, lack of privacy, noise from neighbors and lack of parking will provide a degraded living experience for all.


30

Less than 7% of the students that attend Cal Poly are from SLO county.


12

1. That’s extremely high if you consider that SLO county is less than one percent of the states population.

2. ~100% of people who work at Cal Poly live in SLO county, which means most of them are from here


-10

Actually, no. Many Cal Poly staff and faculty live in northern Santa Barbara County.


2

How about housing for blue collar workers here?… if you want to reduce carbon build affordable housing for the working force….


17

I mean that’s essentially what this is – it’s university staff housing. Some of that might go to young adjunct lectures (who are “white collar” but make pretty low wages) but a lot will probably go to the workers who maintain the campus – landscapers, cooks, janitors, etc. These 500sqft studios aren’t for senior administrators or tenured professors.


9

This would be the second such development for Cal Poly staff in the city… so why not one for restaurant staff or street maintenance workers… you know the forgotten people….


6

Who should pay for it? I’d be fine if Chipotle and McDonalds bought housing for their workers, or the SEIU or AFL-CIO. Steet maintenance workers would require SLO City to buy employee housing which I’d probably be fine with, but I guarantee would send this “news” site’s commentariat ballistic.


-5

The “maintenance staff” do not earn enough to afford one of these units.


7

Big if true! What is the evidence?


-4

POLY. RUINS. EVERYTHING.


Also; lawsuit.


25