Yesterday a two part plan to produce 497 units of deeply affordable housing which would mostly be devoted to either moving people out of homelessness or preventing very low income people from becoming homeless, was presented at a meeting of the Utah Homelessness Council.  The first part of the plan involved using $47,7 million appropriated by the Legislature to fund the production of fifteen diferent projects that will collectively include 546 total housing units.  363 of those units will be priced at a rate that is affordable for extremely low income households.  

HUD defines "extremely low income" as earning 30 percent of the area median income.  This standard changes based on household size.  30 percent of area median income for a single person family in the Salt Lake City metro area would be $21,500 per year.   A single person household with that income would be deemed to only be able to afford an apartment that cost $537.50 per month or less.  According to Zillow, the average rent in Salt Lake City  is currently $1,600 and so the market clearly is not producing units that extremely low income households can afford. 

Of those 363 units geared to extremely low income households, 311 will specifically be dedicated to moving people out of homelessness.  The Homelessness Council voted to approve 14 of the 15 projects after the Mayor of the  Ogden asked for a one month delay on a project that would be located in that city

If all of these facilities are able to open by November 1, 2023, then the system will have the capacity to move 600 people indoors before it is likely to begin snowing.  That would be the biggest effort to bring people indoors during winter months in the history of Salt Lake County.

Unfortunately, it is likely that there will still not be enough beds for everyone sleeping outside.  There are also people who will choose to sleep in their cars rather than in a room with several strangers except for on the coldest nights and so it is encouraging that the plan also includes funding for "Code Blue" overflow shelter at three facilities in Salt Lake County, including First United Methodist Church.  

We will be honoring First United Methodist Church, and the other members of the Second and Second Coalition, with a "Hellraiser of the Year" award at our annual Poverty Summit on August 26.  The Second and Second Coalition hosted movie nights at First United Methodist Church on extra cold nights this past winter and helped spur the Utah Legislature to pass a bill requiring counties in Utah to develop plans for getting people indoors and saving lives during winter months,

We are so pleased that our historic partners at First United Methodist Church have committed to open their doors again on the coldest winter nights and provide shelter to 85 people.  We are also pleased that the County has come out with its most ambitious plan for getting people indoors during the winter ever, and that the plan is being finalized now and not in January, like it was in some recent years.

​Until our state and county have an adequate number of deeply affordable housing units the need for homeless shelters and overflow shelter will be acute every single winter.