Mustang News is partnering with the San Luis Obispo Tribune to investigate poor rental housing in San Luis Obispo.

If you are a student tenant, we want to hear about your experiences renting off-campus, especially if you have dealt with a bad landlord or lived in run-down, moldy or pest-infested housing.

Click here or fill out the form below to help with our reporting by answering a few questions about your housing situation. 

Why we are doing this project 

Over the past month, The Tribune has hosted several community conversations and knocked on doors to talk to tenants about their experiences.They have heard from dozens of renters who are afraid to report problems in their apartments because they worry their landlords will raise their rents or that they will be evicted.

A fair-market one-bedroom apartment costs about $1,196, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition report.

Although Cal Poly intends to make it a requirement for freshmen and sophomores to live on campus once there is adequate space, the average price of housing on campus is still more than $1,000 per month.

The city is planning to take on 4,000 more affordable units by 2025, but students are not San Luis Obispo’s top priority in this decision, according to San Luis Obispo community development housing coordinator Cara Vereschagin. 

To combat high prices, many students secretly live “off the lease” by cramming more people into their houses or they live in houses with poor maintenance from landlords. 

The Tribune and Mustang News want to hear from you. 

The data from this survey will be used for stories in both Mustang News and The Tribune. We will not publish your identifying information without your permission.

For more information about this project, please email tribune.rentalhousing@gmail.com or editor@mustangnews.net or call/text 805-242-3006.

Para responder en Español haga clic aquí.

This reporting project is in partnership with the McClatchy Company with support from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism. The Center’s engagement editor, Danielle Fox, contributed to this story.