Nearly $55 million in state funding will help create about 1,100 new affordable housing units as Utah grapples with the twin crises of homelessness and soaring real estate prices.
The Utah Homelessness Council, created in 2021, voted unanimously Friday to allocate the unprecedented amount approved by state lawmakers this year.
Tricia Davis, assistant director of Utah’s Office of Homeless Services, said the one-time infusion comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic-relief measure passed by Congress last year.
“It’s going to make a significant impact,” she said, “but there is definitely the need for more.”
More than $30 million of the money will come to Salt Lake County. It includes:
More than $16 million will go to Weber, Washington and Utah counties for affordable housing projects. Iron and Sevier counties, meanwhile, will receive a combined $7 million to support such efforts.
In total, the roughly $53.3 million the council approved will support 1,078 affordable units, 679 of which will be deeply affordable. More than 500 will be dedicated to helping the state’s unsheltered population.
The remaining $1.7 million the state allocated to housing will be used to ensure recipients follow through with their proposals.
Contract negotiations for each project can begin immediately.
SB238, which set up the fund this year, required grant applicants to show both a housing and service plan, according to Wayne Niederhauser, state homeless coordinator.
“We know that housing and services go together,” he said during Friday’s meeting. “One does not work without the other.”
Of the $168 million worth of projects the state received applications for, the newly approved funding is going to the top projects, Niederhauser said. Officials reviewed the proposals last month and looked at what funding applicants already had in place, how many units each project would create, project budgets, proposed service plans and how quickly each unit could come on line.
Although the amount is historic, it represents less than half the $128 million Gov. Spencer Cox proposed.
