‘Like they’re eating you alive’: Utah’s massive homeless shelter to be built on mosquito-infested land

Utah’s future homeless campus set for Salt Lake City is due to land in a notoriously mosquito-infested neighborhood, possibly exposing those staying there to illnesses carried by the flying pests.

The Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District worries that state officials have yet to take the threat seriously.

“From our perspective, we certainly have a lot of concerns in regards to protection of these individuals from mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases,” the agency’s executive director, Ary Faraji, said. “So far, nobody has discussed anything with us as far as measures that they can undertake during the construction of this facility. We’d love to be involved in that process.”

Utah Office of Homeless Services spokesperson Sarah Nielson said in an email the mosquito problem “is something we will consider as we move forward with planning.”

‘Like they’re eating you alive’

State officials, led by Utah homelessness coordinator Wayne Niederhauser, announced last month that they would build a campus to shelter at least 1,300 homeless Utahns on a roughly 16-acre, city-owned parcel at 2520 N. 2200 West. The neighborhood along 2200 West — much of which was recently annexed into Utah’s capital — is better known for its rural character, the Cross E Ranch farm and encroaching warehouses.

It’s also known for nearby Great Salt Lake wetlands that produce millions of mosquitoes a year during what is now an extended season that pushes well past summer.

Those bugs can carry dangerous pathogens, like West Nile virus, that afflict humans and livestock.

Nichole Solt, who lives just up the street from where the campus is set to be built, said the mosquitoes affect how and when she and her family can enjoy and use their property’s outdoor spaces.

“There are tons. It’s not really an exaggeration that if we go out and we take our horses out and try to ride them in our back field, they will literally get covered with them all at one time,” Solt said. “... They do pretty much feel like they’re eating you alive.”

Solt said her family members are always wearing bug spray when they’re outside. They even apply the liquid to their horses. Staffers from the Mosquito Abatement District sometimes come by and check the water in their field and the horses’ troughs to look for mosquitoes.

Homeless advocate Bill Tibbitts worries about the shelter’s proposed location and the possibility of swarming mosquitoes pestering people staying there.

“That’s going to be prime mosquito territory,” Tibbitts, deputy executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center, said. “I don’t know how you could stop that from being a problem. So, clearly that’s an issue.”

Tibbitts also remains concerned that transportation to the shelter site won’t be adequate or easy enough for those staying there to get to work and other appointments. He fears some who need shelter may not use it if that’s the case.

Pests suck up tax dollars

The Mosquito Abatement District has dealt with this kind of problem before, Faraji said. He indicated that state officials didn’t consider how bad the mosquitoes would be at the new state prison nearby as they were building it. However, the prison’s construction necessitated more intervention on the district’s dime to keep the inmates and staffers there safe. Later on, the state started reimbursing the district — and therefore, Salt Lake City taxpayers — $300,000 a year for the services.

The district has also had to provide more assistance to developments in and around the Utah Inland Port, as more people have started working in the area, but hasn’t been able to recoup those costs. The mosquito district’s board voted to raise taxes, partly because of that pressure, last year.

“I hope that this homeless shelter is not going to be the same,” Faraji said. “We do have to think about that, because that economic cost shouldn’t be picked up by the residents of Salt Lake City that provide taxes for our services.”

Faraji has recommendations for how the state could reduce the mosquitoes’ biting, both during and after construction. He said the district can help homelessness officials pick lighting options that don’t attract the bugs and manage any standing water on the property.

The organization may also have to apply insecticides that kill adult mosquitoes around the facility, Faraji said, noting those applications make up some of the most controversial work the district does due to their possible health effects on humans and ecosystems.

The campus is generating concern among neighbors for other reasons, too, as state officials continue planning how the facility will run, who could be housed there, and what services will be offered on-site.

“There’s just no clear plan for how a facility like this would be not just built but then maintained,” resident Allison Musser said. “They haven’t really addressed public safety resources. There aren’t a lot of fire or police stations nearby, and it’s going to burden them.”

State leaders are still trying to nail down much of the budget to construct the facility and all of the money to run it. They expect the campus to open in 2027.

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