Utah to acquire nearly 16 acres in northwest Salt Lake City for 1,300-bed homeless campus

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Utah plans to open a 1,300-bed homeless campus in northwest Salt Lake City by 2027.
The campus will offer housing, employment support and recovery services for people experiencing homelessness.
Officials emphasize the need for funding; the facility aims to reduce homelessness impacts.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah homelessness officials say they've reached a contractual agreement to acquire a nearly 16-acre parcel on Salt Lake City's west side for a "first-of-its-kind" state homeless services campus.

The massive parcel, located at 2520 N. 2200 West in the fast-growing Northpoint area, will be turned into a "comprehensive" facility with about 1,300 beds for people experiencing homelessness, according to the Utah Office of Homeless Services and the Utah Homeless Services Board, which announced the agreement on Wednesday.

The facility is expected to open in 2027, pending funding and final approvals.

Terms of the land deal were not released. However, in addition to providing a place to stay, the agencies say the facility will offer support and treatment options to help individuals find employment and housing opportunities, as well as addiction recovery and criminal justice assistance, if needed, using a model that seeks to lower barriers to vital services.

"This is more than a campus; it's a turning point for Utah of reimagining hope," said Wayne Niederhauser, state homeless coordinator, in a statement. "It will further fulfill the identified need to provide additional beds and treatment in Utah's homeless response while providing individuals served by the campus a transformative path from crisis to stability and, ultimately, thriving."

Utah leaders called for a new campus in Salt Lake City through a bill passed in the final hours of this year's legislative session. Legislators amended HB465 — which initially called on Salt Lake City to partner with the state on public safety issues like crime and homelessness — to open the door for the state to use eminent domain "to condemn unincorporated property" owned by a city in Salt Lake County to construct a building for homelessness services.

The bill specified that the land must be unincorporated before the start of this year. The parcel the state settled on is located within a section of the county that Salt Lake City partially annexed in June to address growth in the area, primarily driven by the construction of massive warehouses on land that had previously been tied to agriculture.

A rendering for Utah's new transformative homeless services campus, designed to provide around 1,300 beds, is pictured Wednesday. The facility will be located on about 16 acres that Salt Lake City owns west of Rose Park, near North Salt Lake, and is expected to open in Salt Lake City in 2027. (Photo: Office of Homeless Services)

Wednesday's announcement serves as "an important step" toward the state's vision for the campus, including making "homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring in Utah," the Utah Office of Homeless Services officials said. It also comes nearly a month after the state reported an 18% increase in year-over-year homelessness, as a little more than 4,500 Utahns were experiencing homelessness at the time of an annual survey conducted earlier this year.

"Despite tremendous effort, resources, and goodwill across the state, homelessness in Utah has continued to worsen — for both those experiencing it and for our communities. The proposed Utah campus will take a human-first approach that provides healing and stability while embedding accountability at every stage," said Randy Shumway, chairman of the Utah Homeless Services Board.

However, those who live in the area aren't as enthusiastic. Residents said they're concerned about potential safety issues and what they say has been a lack of transparency since the state started eyeing the land in their neighborhood.

Natalee Thompson said she understands the need, but she's concerned that the project is already underfunded, and she'd like to know how the state plans to keep the ongoing funding going to protect the neighborhood from potential negative impacts.

"I want to be empathetic and compassionate, and I want to also continue — we have a small farm. I want to be able to do that safely and not have to feel guarded about every corner of my house," she said.

The facility is also unlikely to make an immediate impact despite the growing need for beds.

Salt Lake City's resource centers remain full, and the county needs about 400 additional emergency beds this winter to address the growing need, Andrew Johnston, director of Homeless Policy and Outreach for Salt Lake City, reported to city leaders on Tuesday. He added that the state still needs capital and operations funding to get its new campus up and running, which he anticipates won't be addressed until the 2026 legislative session at the earliest.

Niederhauser said he understands the concerns, and his team is doing what it can to ensure campus residents and neighbors are safe while also chipping away at the state's homeless situation. State officials said they're working with various groups to secure funding for the project. They've completed a feasibility study and are currently working on an environmental study of the area, as well.

Salt Lake City leaders say they're hopeful the campus will make a difference once it does open, though.

"Our state has long needed more shelter beds and services, and this campus represents a critical step forward in supporting the most vulnerable people in our communities," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, adding that it could also reduce the number of emergency calls the city receives.

Contributing: Brian Carlson

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.