Representative Calvin Roberts said the state should pair targeted infrastructure investment with local planning to move entitled housing from paper to construction and blunt Utah's housing affordability crisis. "We've got a housing affordability crisis in the state," Roberts said, adding that home prices have risen "on average 6% per year" since 1990 and that price growth has far outpaced median wage growth.

Roberts framed the problem as a three-player dynamic: local governments plan and place-make, the private market builds, and state government should provide backbone infrastructure. "A big part of [why entitled units aren't being built] is because of infrastructure, either subdivision-level infrastructure, regional infrastructure, or more of that big backbone infrastructure," he said. Roberts said the state should partner with cities that "lean into smart growth" by offering infrastructure support.

Roberts and the mayor discussed earlier League research showing roughly 190,000 entitled units four years ago and a more recent estimate of about 150,000 entitled units. Roberts said those figures show cities are planning housing but that lack of infrastructure and other market forces prevent building. "We know that cities and what you all do is plan for housing, and you placemake," he said. "The state's role, if its role is anything in this space, is infrastructure."

As co-chair of the Commission on Housing Affordability, Roberts proposed changes to the Modern Income Housing Plan. He described the current plan as often becoming paperwork sent to DWS with little effect and suggested making it more specific and tying compliance to incentives for infrastructure investment ("carrots") rather than only requirements. "What if we improve on Modern Income Housing Plan? We get more specific about specific strategies that we think work ... and if you do it, we want to partner with you with the infrastructure piece," he said. Roberts suggested infrastructure support could include additional road funds or wet-infrastructure dollars.

Roberts also said the legislature should prune housing bills that are not producing results. He said the House passed about 592 bills last session, roughly 200 of which affected cities, and that he intends to pursue repeals or rollbacks of housing laws that are not working. "If it's not working, let's repeal it," he said.

Roberts urged local elected officials to engage in the League's Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) and policy meetings, saying the League has moved from pure advocacy to developing policy that lawmakers are listening to. "You play an important role in determining how your cities grow," he added.

Discussion points only: Roberts repeatedly characterized these ideas as policy proposals and priorities; the session did not include formal motions or votes on legislation or budget actions.

Ending: Roberts asked municipal leaders to participate in LPC policy discussions and signaled the Commission on Housing Affordability will continue work on actionable, infrastructure-linked incentives for jurisdictions that pursue smart-growth approaches.