The Utah Housing Coalition (UHC), an NLIHC State Coalition Partner, has launched a new project aimed at increasing awareness of the state’s affordable rental and owner-occupied housing environment. “Defining the Landscape of Affordable Housing in Utah” utilizes state and local data to help facilitate meaningful discussions among advocates and lawmakers about improving the outlook of housing affordability, especially for those with the lowest incomes.The project kicked off in January 2013 with the release of Utah Housing Matters: A County Look at Utah’s Housing. The publication provides an economic and housing affordability profile for each of the Utah’s 29 counties, including information about each jurisdiction’s number of homeless families, individuals, and children, who live in sheltered, unsheltered and doubled up conditions. NLIHC’s annual Out of Reach publication is used to provide a sketch of the county’s rental housing affordability, including information about the gap between what an extremely low income renter household can afford for housing expenses and what an average two bedroom apartment costs. The profiles include the percentage of the county’s population that lives in poverty; homeownership affordability analysis based on regional multiple listing service data; a summary of median income broken down by family income; and median earnings for single men and women working full time with no children. Facts about each county’s largest employers and the average time citizens spend commuting to work are provided. The report includes sample housing authority wait lists for Section 8 vouchers and Public Housing. The Housing Authority of Salt Lake County had the longest waiting lists with 6,920 households waiting for a Section 8 voucher and an average wait time of 4-5 years. Further, the county has the largest Public Housing waiting list at 4,484 households and an average wait time of 2 years. Utah Housing Matters will be used to complement the new project by giving advocates more leverage in demonstrating the need to increase the affordable housing supply in their counties. UHC hopes it will provide a stepping stone for them and lawmakers to earnestly assess the state’s affordable housing needs and effectively plan for anticipated population growth. According to Wasatch Choice for 2040, the population in the Wasatch Front, the metropolitan region in the north-central part of the state, is expected to increase by 65% in the next 30 years. Advocates are concerned that the projected surge will increase the affordable and available housing gap if a mitigation plan is not developed and implemented. Throughout the course of the project, UHC plans to assess the state’s existing capacity to build and finance new housing for families across the socioeconomic spectrum, and to work with lawmakers to increase funding for affordable housing development through traditional and innovative methods. The coalition also plans to organize a statewide task force responsible for advancing the project’s subsequent campaigns, and it will seek media opportunities to advance public education efforts. UHC hopes the project will help expand its partnerships with the professional housing community, business community and state and local government.“By breaking down the silos and working together, we can have a better understanding of how to move forward in building the best inventory to address all our housing needs,” said Tara Rollins, UHC’s executive director. For more information, contact Tara Rollins, Utah Housing Coalition, [email protected].