Housing advocates and consultants present ROI-focused study on affordable housing along the Wasatch Back; municipal leaders ask for fiscal-cost analysis

Presenters from Mountainlands Community Housing Trust and Economic & Planning Systems (EPS) gave municipal leaders a data-heavy briefing on the regional economic value of building workforce and affordable housing across the Wasatch Back.

Megan McKenna, housing advocate for Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, said the study was commissioned to create a regional fact base and to spur local discussion about solutions that cross municipal boundaries. She explained the committee that helped shape the effort and said the report is meant to give elected officials shared data to guide future decisions.

Andrew Knutson of EPS walked through the firm’s methodology and headline findings. Using a 100-unit scenario as an illustrative scale, Knutson reported an estimate of about $585,000 in community benefits per dwelling unit on the rental side and an aggregate of roughly $58,000,000 of local economic value for a 100-unit development. He framed the calculation as a benefit-cost analysis that monetizes factors such as filled positions, household spending, sales and property tax revenue, reduced commuter time and greenhouse-gas reductions.

Knutson summarized specific elements the study estimated: commuter-time savings (using a federal value of time), student-generation impacts (an estimated 0.4 school-age children per household translating to state funding near $180,000 annually for the illustrative 100 units), volunteer-hour valuation, greenhouse-gas reductions tied to reduced vehicle miles traveled and lower local unfilled-position costs that, the study said, could amount to millions in annual avoided costs.

Several mayors and council members praised the study’s intent but pushed back on its completeness. Mayor McCormick and others said the analysis emphasized benefits while omitting fiscal costs tied to adding rooftops—water, sewer, police, EMS, school staffing and other infrastructure and operating expenses. One elected official noted that some assumptions (for example, the implied average earnings per newly filled job in the business-spending calculation) appeared high for retail and service positions.

Knutson and McKenna acknowledged those concerns and said the written report will provide more detail; McKenna said the study is a tool for public discussion rather than a prescriptive plan. She also announced two upcoming public events to present findings and collect feedback: a Wasatch County event on Aug. 26 and a Summit County event on Aug. 27 at the Park City Library’s Jim Santy Auditorium.

The municipal leaders did not take formal action on the study; they requested further detail about costs, assumptions and scenario scale before making policy or funding decisions.