CAMBRIA, CA-Students from team Terra Housing Studio of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have won the recent Bank of America Annual Low Income Housing Challenge for their project, Cambria Pines. The 40-unit multifamily affordable project features low impact development strategies that address local issues such as water shortage.
Terra Housing Studio, in partnership with Peoples' Self Help Housing Corp., proposed the new residential development in Cambria, a coastal community that is equidistant from Los Angeles and San Francisco along Highway 1. Cambria's local economy relies heavily on tourism, which requires a pool of low wage workers with various skills, according to a prepared statement.
Approximately 1 million tourists per year visit Cambria. “It is a destination widely known for its favorable climate, scenic location, and proximity to attractions such as Hearst's Castle and the San Simeon coastline,” says a release.
As of 2010, Cambria had a resident population of 6,032. There are 4,023 housing units: 94% single-family detached homes and 3% multifamily units. The first and only affordable housing project in Cambria was developed by Peoples' Self Help Housing in 1997 and neighbors the Cambria Pines project site.
A community-wide development moratorium was imposed in the year 2001 by the Cambria Community Services District to respond to a chronic water shortage in the area. According to a statement, the water shortage has severely limited the ability to create affordable housing in the area.
“The dominance of single-family homes and lack of other housing types such as multifamily have resulted in an inadvertent exclusion of low-income residents in this portion of the North San Luis Obispo County coastal area,” says a release.
According to a statement, the project seeks to build positive relationships with neighboring residents, provide a cohesive design with structures that fit within the existing neighborhood architectural style, and serves to improve the overall housing stock within this coastal community.
We will follow up on this project as it progresses.
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