An up-and-coming Republican and one of the country’s youngest lawmakers will soon leave the Utah Legislature to lead the state’s efforts to address homelessness, Gov. Spencer Cox announced Thursday.
The governor tapped Provo’s Rep. Tyler Clancy, a 28-year-old police detective, to replace retiring former Senate President Wayne Niederhauser as Utah’s homeless coordinator. Niederhauser is the first to hold the role.
“Rep. Clancy knows the work on the ground and at the policy table, and that mix will sharpen coordination and results,” Cox said in a statement. “Building on the foundation Wayne Niederhauser laid, we will strengthen Utah’s response and help more Utahns find stability.”
The representative won’t take the helm of the Office of Homeless Services until March 9 — the Monday after the 2026 legislative session concludes — according to the governor’s office.
In a message Thursday morning, Clancy confirmed that he will resign from the Legislature after the session ends, and that he will leave his job at the Provo Police Department.
Utah’s homelessness policy has become a focus for Clancy since his election in 2023. Before entering politics, he was the executive director of the Pioneer Park Coalition — renamed Solutions Utah ahead of the 2023 Salt Lake City mayoral race.
The group previously pushed for a plan that would require chronically unhoused Utahns to choose an option to get help or go to jail.
“Utah does best when we work together with clear goals and real accountability,” Clancy said in a statement included with the announcement. “My focus is on coordination that helps people move forward with dignity.”
The representative’s philosophy around addressing homelessness resembles a system widely abandoned across the country that emphasizes requiring people to accept treatment for addiction or mental health before receiving aid. But Republicans in recent years have shifted their attention back to that model — an ideology embraced by President Donald Trump.
During this year’s legislative session, he successfully introduced a resolution urging the federal government to abandon rules incentivizing “housing first” policies to allow flexibility for “sobriety; goal-setting; and accountability.”
Housing first models prioritize finding permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, then offering supportive services. It has been the national standard for over a decade, and Utah pioneered the approach.
Research indicates housing first models lead to people maintaining more stable housing over time. But such programs can be costly, and it can be especially difficult to locate housing in areas with shortages, like many parts of Utah.
The only opposition to Clancy’s resolution came from two Senate Democrats.
Clancy is preparing to step into the role as Utah sees the number of residents experiencing homelessness swell. Between the annual point-in-time counts conducted in January 2023 and 2024, the population of Utahns identified as homeless grew from 3,869 to 4,584 — an 18% jump.
His slated appointment also comes as Utah moves toward the scheduled 2027 opening of a massive homeless campus on Salt Lake City’s west side.
The 16-acre campus in an isolated, rural part of the capital city is expected to house at least 1,300 people.
Both homeless advocates and the city agency tasked with abating mosquitoes worry the location’s proximity to Great Salt Lake wetlands will result in it being overrun by the pests that can spread illnesses like West Nile virus. The new state prison, also in the westernmost portion of the city, completed in 2022, has faced such a crisis.
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.