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The Utah House passed a bill Thursday designed to increase affordable housing and fight homelessness, despite concerns that it would reduce education funds to do so.

Representatives voted 50-22 to pass HB36, and sent it to the Senate for consideration.

Its sponsor, Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, said it would encourage more affordable housing by doing such things as increasing state income-tax credits for landlords.

Fiscal analysts figure that may cut income tax — which in Utah goes entirely for education ­— by $1.4 million a year.

Rep. Bruce Cutler, R-Murray, was among those who said he wanted to improve affordable housing, but didn't want to do it at the expense of schools. "I'm torn."

But Edwards said shifting the money would help the education of children in poor families, and may actually save schools more money than the credits would cost.

"For children who are experiencing housing instability and are moving so frequently from different places to live or to shelter … they are experiencing educational impact," resulting in needs for mentoring and other services, she said.

The bill comes after the state reported last month that the number of Utah's extremely low-income families exceeds the rental units they can afford by more than 38,000 — equivalent to the population of Kearns.

"This is really a crisis," Edwards said. She noted that others also call homelessness a crisis. "We cannot move people out of homelessness until they have a place to live. That's what this bill does."

Besides increasing tax credits for landlords of affordable housing, the bill would also create a fund to provide loans to help build more affordable housing or convert existing market-rate units to it.

It also has a pilot program to reimburse landlords the difference between market rates and what is paid by federal housing vouchers.

Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, praised the bill as "an essential part of dealing with homelessness." Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, a social worker, said, "We cannot deal with mental health and all the other issues [of homelessness] until we have people housed and in a stable environment."