- Advocates urge Utah lawmakers to increase funding for affordable housing and homeless services.
- Sen. Nate Blouin criticizes the planned 1,300-bed homeless campus in Salt Lake City.
- Gov. Spencer Cox requests $25 million for campus construction; House Speaker Mike Schultz wants to see local governments shoulder more of the cost.
SALT LAKE CITY — Advocates and lawmakers called for more funding for housing and homeless services during a rally on Thursday, ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
About 100 people gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to show support, chanting "H-O-M-E, that spells home, no one should sleep in the snow" to the tune of Chappell Roan's hit "HOT TO GO!" The group urged lawmakers to invest more in affordable housing, and some criticized the state's plan to build a 1,300-bed homeless campus in northwest Salt Lake City.
"Housing is cheaper than homelessness," said Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek. "In 2034, the world will come to Utah for the Olympic Games. I don't want us to be scrambling to explain why thousands of our neighbors are sleeping in shelters or on the street when AI takes jobs or tariffs kill small businesses. The question is simple: Will people be left to fail, or will there be a safety net to catch them?"
A recent report from the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness estimates that Salt Lake County will need an additional 6,800 units of housing to move most unsheltered people in the county into permanent housing. That could cost close to $1.6 billion, a steep increase from the costs estimated in a previous report in 2021.
"The longer we wait to get serious about providing housing and supports for seniors, children and people with disabilities, the more expensive it will be," said Steve Erickson, with Crossroads Urban Center. "We spend billions of dollars on roads every single year. Utah can find a way to provide basic dignity to our most vulnerable residents."
As state leaders look to shift the state's homeless services from a housing-first model to cracking down on substance use and possibly using involuntary commitment to get individuals who are chronically homeless off the streets, Gov. Spencer Cox requested $25 million from lawmakers for the construction of the campus.
That amount is just what Cox is proposing. Lawmakers have the ultimate say over spending, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said last week he would like to see other governments share the cost.
"We'll see what's available with funding and how things shake out," the speaker said. "We want to begin to be partners with our local governments. We expect them to step up and do more. This isn't going to be laid at the feet of the state overall."
While Blouin is not a fan of the new campus model being proposed, he said he's even more worried about conditions there if it's not funded properly.
"An underfunded campus would be worse than a fully-funded campus," said Blouin, who is running as a Democrat for Utah's 1st Congressional District seat. "The lack of infrastructure and services that are needed would make it an even more disgraceful situation. ... I'm really concerned about doing this in a piecemeal way."
The Rev. Brigette Weier, with the St. Matthew Lutheran Church, said she worried the campus was creating "archaic and callous warehouses for people with disabilities."
"There's another cost to our societal soul here in Utah," she said. "Do we want to pay the moral price for denying human beings, beloved people of God, with disabilities, supportive and accessible housing? ... Our budgets are moral documents. They tell us who we are and what matters to us and what we prioritize."
The 45-day legislative session begins on Tuesday and will convene through March 6.
