Coalition of Religious Communities (CORC)

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Three ways the Utah Legislature can reduce child homelessness this year

This year's 45 day formal session of Utah Legislature has already begun and will end on March 5, 2021.  The Coalition of Religious Communities has identified three ways the Utah Legislature can reduce the number of nights children spend in homeless shelters and asks everyone to join with us in educating their individual legislators about them.    You can learn more about child homelessness in Utah by reading a report on that topic we released in September.  Our three  legislative priorities for this year are:
1.  Increase state investment in affordable housing : Over 40,000 low income households in Utah are paying over half their total income on rent. We cannot end child homelessness when that many families are one adverse economic incident away from becoming homeless. Last year state officials estimated that $15 million in state spending on affordable housing would leverage over $370 million in other funding and produce more than 2,300 affordable apartments.   We believe the Legislature needs to show it is serious about reducing the number of low income families paying over half their income on rent by committing to spend $20 million more per year on the production and preservation of affordable housing units
2.  Help families avoid returning to homelessness by connecting them with needed healthcare services: Medical conditions often contribute to families becoming homeless. The trauma of homelessness can make those health problems worse or create new health problems. Utah can use Medicaid funding to pay for outreach to families who have been homeless and connect them with services that will help them avoid returning to a shelter. Legislators should authorize the use of Medicaid funds for this purpose and provide adequate funding to be able to conduct this outreach and case management for all families who need this assistance.
3.  Include parents who have been homeless in Governor Cox's proposed new job training initiative: Governor Cox has proposed Utah spend $125 million on education and training for high demand jobs. Here is how that is described on page  51 of his proposed budget:

The Governor recommends using $125 million of one-time funding for an Upskilling Initiative to continue supporting adult learners in need of additional education and training, with a very focused emphasis on job placement. More specifically, the Governor recommends: 

• $20 million to help those struggling to find work, including $4.4 million for USHE to administer a three-year pilot program to deploy college advisors to Department of Workforce Services employment centers and $15.6 million for degree-granting and technical colleges to provide financial support for unemployed, underemployed, and vulnerable workers; 
• $49 million for technical education, including a new Bridgerland technical training facility, and $10.4 million for technical programs, technical equipment, and reducing tuition; 
• As previously mentioned, $56 million for two new education innovation funds ($40 million for higher education and $16 million for K-12 education) to seed cooperative efforts between schools, institutions of higher education, employers, and other parties to increase the number of students who receive job offers upon graduation.

​This initiative will not benefit many of the families most at risk of becoming homeless if it is not coordinated with child care and adult education programs for those without a high school diploma. Legislators should support the Governor's proposal and ensure it can work for the Utah parents who most need to increase their income.

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The Coalition of Religious Communities is project of Crossroads Urban Center that brings people together from a variety of faith traditions to reduce hunger and homelessness  in Utah.  We have a weekly email called Hunger & Homelessness Weekly Update and organize opportunities to learn from experts and speak directly with elected  officials about hunger and homelessness in Utah.

During the legislative session we will be hosting 30 minute legislative updates on Wednesdays at 1 PM.

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