Our group includes retirees, young families, tenants, homeowners, students, and business owners. We make room for everyone in our towns, neighborhoods, and schools – we want more grandmas! More babysitters! More friends, parties, and potlucks!
Do you love riding your bike to school or work? Do you hate looking for parking downtown? Are you just super-duper into trains? Us too! That’s why we support protected bike lanes, better bus service, and more housing where we work, worship, learn, and shop.
In February of 2019, the 5Cities Homeless Coalition and People's Self-Help Housing joined together to purchase a 3-acre property in Grover Beach with the intent of building a permanent home office for the Coalition, as well as 20 permanently affordable apartments. The location was accessible to jobs, schools, transit, case workers and social services, as well as places to shop and eat. As expected, the neighbors had feelings about this. We began to see large red yard signs that said "Right Idea, Wrong Location!" all around the area. In response, a group of pro-housing neighbors of the Hillside project started organizing support for Hillside, and began distributing our own bright yellow signs reading "HOMES 4 ALL." From that moment on, SLO County YIMBY began making waves, from Paso Robles to Nipomo.
A housing element is a part of cities' and counties' General Plans that is supposed to help local governments assess and address their housing issues, a process that happens every 6-8 years. SLO County and each of our seven cities finalized their housing elements in late 2020. Our group members participated in the HE outreach for the County, SLO, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, and Atascadero. We also closely watch each city’s policy changes to keep them accountable to their own commitments to housing.
San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, or SLOCOG, is our own regional collaboration of local governments. Every four years, regional governments are required to plan for their residents' transportation needs, from highways to bike lanes. While our focus is on housing production, many of our members are passionate on transportation issues from both an equity and an environmental lense. Check out the 2023 RTP plan here.
As part of their goal of carbon neutrality by 2030, SLO City staff held a series of stakeholder meetings to improve their Active Transportation Plan. We attended these meetings to promote the importance of housing in the city, streamlining the bus system, and making transit more accessible for new users and those with disabilities. Learn more about the Climate Action Plan here.
