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SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Pioneer Park Coalition are lobbying state lawmakers for a $1 million contribution toward the development of permanent supportive housing for homeless people.
A total of $4.4 million in public and private funding has been identified to construct and furnish 100 units of permanent supportive housing, including $1.25 million from Salt Lake County, $1 million from the LDS Foundation, $1 million from Larry H. Miller Group, $20,000 from Morgan Stanley, and $145,000 from Pioneer Park Coalition members. The rest would come from the state funding request.
"This is not money that would help to move the shelter but to take the homeless from that area into permanent housing, because they are the ones who are the biggest victims of what goes on down there. In housing, they are safe, can progress and put their lives back in order. That is what were asking for you to help with today," Bryson Garbett, a builder and Pioneer Park Coalition member, told members of the Utah Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this week.
The private, nonprofit organization is part of a public-private partnership committed to building 300 units of permanent supportive housing for individuals and families.
The housing will be a transit-oriented development and utilize low-income housing tax credits.
Josh Romney, co-chairman of the Pioneer Park Coalition, said after nearly 1 ½ years of meeting with various constituencies and visiting service providers in Salt Lake and other communities, coalition members have learned that issues affecting homeless people are "varied, complex, and there really is no simple solution."
Homeless individuals and families need health care and security. Many fall victim to criminals in the Rio Grande District. There is also a great need for a public awareness campaign to help educate Utahns that supporting service providers is the best way to help homeless people, he said.
It's impossible to rehabilitate someone if they don't have some levels of stability. We feel housing plays a big role in that.
–Josh Romney, co-chairman of the Pioneer Park Coalition
But housing is the underpinning to supportive services, Romney said.
"It's impossible to rehabilitate someone if they don't have some levels of stability. We feel housing plays a big role in that," he said.
The request comes as both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County have impaneled groups to study the locations of homeless service providers, as well as determining what means could improve service delivery.
Romney said the Pioneer Park Coalition is taking no position with respect to possible relocation of homeless services providers. It is moving ahead with a permanent supportive housing plan regardless of the outcome of the municipal government processes.
The state's Housing First initiative has been successful in reducing demand on shelters and is cost-effective because people in housing with appropriate levels of services place a lesser demand on emergency service providers.
"Housing helps. It limits numbers of beds needed in the shelter," he said.
Two possible sites for the housing, according to information given to lawmakers by the coalition, are a 2-acre parcel at 1528 W. North Temple, the location of the former Diamond Lil's steak house; and a 5.7-acre parcel at 1849 W. North Temple, an existing office complex. The latter is within a block of the Department of Corrections' Orange Street community corrections center for women.
I'm just concerned. I was surprised to see this address on there because no one said anything to me, and I haven't heard from my community councils that anyone approached them about the possibility of these apartments going up in our area.
–Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City
Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, said her legislative district encompasses both sites and that the coalition's presentation to lawmakers was the first time she had heard of the proposal.
"I’m just concerned. I was surprised to see this address on there because no one said anything to me, and I haven't heard from my community councils that anyone approached them about the possibility of these apartments going up in our area," she said.
Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, whose Senate district includes the North Temple corridor, asked whether the group had considered sites not on the west side of Salt Lake City.
Romney said financial backers and organizers are looking at sites elsewhere in the county as well.
The goal is to build reasonably sized apartment developments.
"We wouldn't have massive complexes. (They would be) small in number," Romney said.
Hollins urged the coalition to keep community councils abreast of their proposals.
"Our community councils are very strong and very opinionated about their communities. We are also very protective of our community," she said.
Former Democratic state Sen. Scott Howell told the committee that the group funding and developing the apartments plans to return to lawmakers to share its outcome measures.
"Success will be defined by the number of individuals who are housed that obtain identification, employment, continue mental health treatment and gain independency inside the community," the Pioneer Park Coalition's documents stated.
"We want to measure what is happening to our brothers and sisters. We want to make sure there is accountability, opportunity, responsibility and most importantly, security," said Howell, co-chairman of Pioneer Park Coalition.
