The Central Coast doesn’t have a housing shortage (“The Central Coast desperately needs to build its way out of the housing crisis,” Aug. 7)—we have an affordability shortage.
A quick look at today’s housing market tells the real story. On Aug. 4, 2025, Zillow showed 1,407 homes and lots priced at more than $1 million in our region. Compare that to only 267 listings between $700K and $1 million and just 114 between $550K and $700K. Even more troubling, there were only 174 homes in the $300K to $550K range and 128 listings between $150K and $350K—with a large share of those being vacant lots, not actual housing. For working families, teachers, firefighters, and young people trying to build a future here, that’s not a market—it’s a lockout.
This is what a broken market looks like: thousands of luxury listings, but a shrinking supply of homes for working families, teachers, and young people trying to stay in the community. When the overwhelming majority of inventory is priced for millionaires, it’s no wonder local residents are being priced out.
Generation Build is right: Streamlined approvals, smarter zoning, infill development, and a real commitment to building at all levels of affordability are desperately needed. But we also have to be honest. If we keep building mostly luxury homes, we’re not solving a crisis. We’re pushing our neighbors out while speculators and investors move in. Developers claim their projects will “add supply” and ease the crisis, but the numbers show otherwise. What we’re really building is more wealth for investors and fewer doors for families who need them most. A housing market dominated by million-dollar listings is not meeting the needs of our community—it’s abandoning them.
This is about more than numbers on Zillow. It’s about whether our kids can grow up and afford to stay here, whether our seniors can downsize without leaving their community, and whether the people who keep this region running can afford to live where they work. Building more homes matters—but what we build, and who it serves, matter even more.
K. Rosa
Nipomo
This article appears in Sept 18-28, 2025.
No, we have a shortage of housing, and that’s what drives the prices up. More people want to live here than we have homes to house them. Even if we stopped building luxury homes, there still wouldn’t be enough, and prices would still be out of reach for many. Labor, land and material costs will keep the price of even modest homes high. And our water shortage, and space and environmental constraints, will prevent us from flooding the area with enough houses for everyone who would like to live here.
The fact that houses are unaffordable in SLO is by design. The city council has an agenda that includes protecting their jobs by limiting building permits, thereby pumping up the value of existing homes. How else can Boomer homeowners exploit students for rent? Won’t someone the of the millionaires interests for once? Jeez. Further, this little racket exists all over the US in college towns.
*Won’t someone think of the millionaire’s interests for once?
Shanti, you can change your name more often than Erik Prince changes the name of Blackwater, but you can’t hide the fact that you’ve been duped by the distraction of generational conflict over the reality of class warfare. Everyone of every age will be paying rent to a handful of hedge fund landlords.
All of us in any age group will be paying rent to a handful of hedge fund landlords.