Utah Workforce Housing Advocacy asks legislature to fund second phase of messaging and research

Representatives of the Utah Workforce Housing Advocacy (UWHA) described a campaign and research effort the group says aims to address Utah’s housing supply shortage and asked the subcommittee for support for a second phase of work.

Thane Schafer, board member of UWHA and CEO of America First Credit Union, and a presenter representing UWHA told the subcommittee the nonprofit coalition has commissioned research with Envision Utah and the Kim Garff Policy Institute and rolled out a multichannel public-education campaign at demandmoresupply.com. Schafer said the group’s first-phase work included public polling and focus groups and that UWHA now seeks funding for three objectives: measure impact and refine messaging; increase reach by engaging additional partners and media; and recruit more private-sector partners to scale solutions.

Schafer said the group is asking the committee to support a second, targeted phase. He told the committee: "We are here, to ask for your help and support in our second phase. That'll basically have 3 purposes. Number 1 is to, measure, the impact that we've had so far and how effective we've been and, test the messaging and refine it…" He added the group is currently in an approximately four-week outreach campaign.

Committee members asked how the funds previously raised were spent; Schafer replied most money has gone to broadcast and internet media (websites, social media, YouTube) as well as surveys and focus groups. The transcript did not cite a specific dollar request in the presentation; the UWHA materials and links (demandmoresupply.com and utahworkforcehousingadvocacy.com) were distributed to committee members.