Rental Housing FAQs
Applying for affordable housing can be complicated. Below you will find answers to some of our most frequently asked questions. Additional content is added to this page on a regular basis. If you don’t see an answer to your question, don’t hesitate to contact us!
People’s Self-Help Housing provides permanent, supportive housing. We do not operate emergency shelters or temporary accommodations. These vital services are provided by other community organizations:
- San Luis Obispo County:
- Santa Barbara County:
- Ventura County:
We understand that if you are looking for housing with us, you’re likely to be needing a home immediately. Unfortunately, all of our properties have waitlists. However vacancies do come up but in order to be considered when they do, you must already be on the property’s waitlist.
To be housed as quickly as possible, we encourage you to submit a pre-application to the properties you are interested in and should you have any change in contact information, notify the property directly. Even though we may not be able to house you today, we hope that at some point in the future we can.
We build housing for low-income individuals. Low-income is defined by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development as households whose incomes do not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). You can see the current AMI levels for the counties on the Central Coast here.
When you look at our housing list, you will also see properties designated for certain populations. These include seniors, farmworkers, those living with disabilities, veterans, and people coming out of homelessness.
At some properties, yes! Please look for the pet-friendly icon 
next to the property listing to see if the site you’re interested in allows pets. Some properties ask for a pet deposit of $150.
Service and emotional support animals are allowed at all properties. If this is your circumstance, please indicate when applying because third-party verification may be requested.
At some properties, yes! When navigating our website, you can look for the Section 8 icon 
next to the property listing that accepts the voucher.
However, PSHH doesn’t provide Section 8 vouchers. If you don’t currently have a voucher, please visit your local housing authority to learn more and enroll.
Rent Café is a third-party software we use to receive and process housing pre-applications. For those who are already residents at a PSHH property, this software is also used to accept rent payments, submit maintenance requests, and complete annual recertifications.
If you are a first-time applicant, you will need to set up an account with Rent Café. For help signing up, please see our instructions.