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SALT LAKE CITY — The forthcoming 144 South Project won't solve Utah's affordable housing shortage; however, Salt Lake City leaders and housing advocates say its 110 units will help make an "indent" as it joins a handful of similar projects looking to fill the seemingly insurmountable gap.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake County Deputy Mayor Catherine Kanter and others gathered Friday near a dirt lot near 144 S. 500 East to ceremonially break ground on the project in the Central City neighborhood after multiple years of planning.
"Salt Lake County is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. It's real, we know it (and) we are battling that challenge. That's why a project like this one is so important at this particular moment in time," Kanter said, adding that every new unit is "desperately needed."
It's not just the county. Utah currently has a shortage of about 43,000 units when taking into account people making 50% of the average median income, according to Christina Oliver, the director of the Utah Department of Workforce Service's Housing and Community Development Division.
The forthcoming project is set to bring 110 studio and one-bedroom units for people making 60% of the area's median income when it opens in the coming years. Kanter points out that the multistory apartment complex will be located in a "prime" spot for workforce housing.
It's also located within a block of bus stops that can help residents travel to downtown, the University of Utah and other places over the county. It's also located within a few blocks of a pair of TRAX stations along the Utah Transit Authority's blue, green and red lines.
"This makes an indent," Oliver said. "We hope the state moves forward and continues to fund additional affordable projects in the Wasatch Front so we can further decrease that need."
The project, which is estimated to cost about $50 million, also includes a co-working space for people who work from home, as well as space for a dog wash, bike storage room and a public cafe.
Former Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, the project's developer, contends that despite how high rents are becoming in Salt Lake City and across the region, they still aren't high enough to "justify" the type of construction like the 144 South Project.
"With construction costs and interest rates going up, these projects just don't make sense unless we get help from our governments," he said.
The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City jumped in to provide a $1.77 million loan, while the project also received a county loan and state funds that add up to about $15 million altogether to reduce the private cost of the project. Kanter explained the county got involved because she believes affordable housing is as much of an economic issue as it is a social one, meaning it hurts the overall economy when residents are paying too much for housing.
The government funding is eventually returned through the economic output of the project, says Terry Gentry, the executive vice president of the Richman Group. And while Corroon said the project needed some government aid to get off the ground, he added that it also takes developers willing to take on projects that tackle the state's significant affordable housing situation.
Mendenhall likens the 144 South Project and other projects like it to a new form of barn raising because of this cycle. It's why Salt Lake City started to increase the funds it provides to help affordable projects get off the ground as the issue became more dire. The city has directed about $47.59 million toward affordable housing since 2020, resulting in more than 2,500 affordable units and more on the way in the near future.
The mayor explained that the city is looking to build new affordable housing all over different parts of Salt Lake City, as well. The city celebrated the groundbreaking of a project that's set to deliver 200 affordable housing units along North Temple in the new Power District area back in February. It's also preparing to begin work on a project to add more than 80 units closer to 1100 East later this year.
The Utah Legislature has also jumped aboard in recent years, pumping over $50 million more into its housing tax credits this past legislative session. That's aimed to help foster affordable housing projects across other cities in the state. Mendenhall says she believes all the new funding will help create a "huge dent" in the housing gap as more projects come online in the near future.
"It takes a village to raise affordable housing," she said. "We can't do it alone. It takes this complexity of funding relationships, partnerships, and it takes the kind of people like Peter Corroon who are willing to wade through with patient and focused vision to bring the partners together and raise this barn up."
