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State housing plan advances; League vows focused engagement as commission sets mid-December deadline
Summary
The Governor-led Utah state housing plan will prioritize tactics by mid-June and deliver a final plan by mid-December. The Utah League of Cities and Towns (ULCT) said it will engage through work groups, an LPC advisory subgroup and city representatives on the Commission on Housing Affordability.
The Commission on Housing Affordability will prioritize tactics for Utah’s state housing plan by mid-June and deliver a final plan by mid-December, league staff told the Utah League of Cities and Towns Legislative Policy Committee on May 21.
The commission and its steering committee are compiling and narrowing a list the governor’s office produced of more than 140 potential tactics. “By June 18, their objective is to identify and prioritize tactics,” ULCT staff said during the meeting.
The plan matters because it will guide state and local policy on housing affordability through implementation decisions and possible legislation. ULCT staff told members the work groups are organized into policy buckets — including subsidized housing, market-rate housing, homelessness and infrastructure — and that the steering committee, the Commission on Housing Affordability and then the legislature will weigh in before any final direction is set.
ULCT said it will be represented on several bodies: Springville Mayor Matt Packard and South Jordan Council Member Don Shelton were accepted as the league’s two appointed members on the commission; Mill Creek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini will represent the league on the steering committee. Representative Stephen White and Senator Lincoln Fillmore will continue as co-chairs of the commission.
League staff described a multi-step process: work groups meet to refine tactics, the steering committee weighs and narrows options, the commission reviews those recommendations and the legislature receives the results later in the year. The work groups are meeting weekly and the commission’s first meeting is scheduled next Tuesday at 1 p.m., ULCT staff said. Cities and the league will supply data and local examples to the governor’s office and the commission.
ULCT announced an LPC advisory subgroup that will hold deeper, member-driven reviews of proposed tactics; that subgroup will meet June 4. The league encouraged municipal participation, saying the subgroup’s feedback will inform the league’s formal responses and the materials staff delivers to the commission and governor’s office.
League staff also said several independent and related efforts — including private-sector initiatives led by the Salt Lake Chamber (“Utah Rising”), Envision Utah’s infrastructure and zoning capacity project, and toolkits on “missing middle” housing and centers development — are proceeding in parallel and will inform implementation discussions.
ULCT asked members for three kinds of input: (1) responses to a Qualtrics question about local housing priorities, (2) participation in the LPC advisory subgroup, and (3) targeted data or examples that league representatives can bring to the governor’s office and the commission.
“Cities are doing a lot in the planning space, but the governor’s staff has asked why some communities are not,” ULCT staff said, adding that league leaders are discussing how to present an accurate, context-rich narrative about local actions and constraints.
The commission’s timeline and the league’s engagement plan were the primary housing-topic items for the summer interim schedule; ULCT said it will follow up with members by email with homework assignments and dates for subgroup meetings.
