Candidate says housing relief begins with cutting taxes and restoring local planning authority

Matt Durant, a Republican candidate for Utah House District 64, told the Utah County Republican Party podcast that housing affordability should be addressed through regulatory and tax relief rather than top-down mandates. "If we can do things to help bring it down 1,000 here or 500 there by reducing some regulations, reducing some taxes," he said, "all those little things, they start to add up."

Durant said local governments know their communities better than the state does and should generally set zoning and density rules. He criticized recent state-level mandates he said force cities into uniform solutions: "I don't think that's the legislator's role... the city should be able to dictate this is how we want our community developed." He advocated for more collaboration between state and city planners on infrastructure and road corridors.

Durant also raised concerns about public infrastructure districts (PIDs) and other development incentives, arguing elected officials should safeguard taxpayer dollars. "You're getting taxed without representation," he said of PIDs, and added officials must stop diverting earmarked funds to unrelated uses.

On transportation planning, Durant cited Pioneer Crossing as an example of where insufficient foresight created future costs, and urged coordinated master planning so roads, pipelines and other infrastructure are aligned before large-scale development.

The candidate framed his approach as incremental and pragmatic: prioritize locally appropriate policies, reduce burdensome rules, and maintain elected oversight of public funding.