Here's how a group of UVU students is addressing Wasatch County's affordable housing crisis
When Utah's affordable housing crisis gets discussed, the conversation is typically focused on the Wasatch Front and even southern Utah.
Of course, those areas don't account for all of the Beehive State's growth, with the Wasatch Back also experiencing a steady rise in population.
"Wasatch County happens to have the largest influx in terms of percentage. It increased 47% over the last 10 years in their population, which is huge," said Farah Sanders, a public relations and strategic communication professor at Utah Valley University.
More specifically, Heber City is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the nation.
With all that in mind, a group of UVU students led by Sanders is looking to spread awareness about Heber City's affordable housing shortage and, beyond that, work with the city to actually address the issue.
That group met with the Heber City Council on Tuesday to share research and present proposals to the council.
Before the meeting, the students collected data from Wasatch County residents — through surveys and seven observational visits to the county — over a three-year time period.
"They would visit local business, local farms, local restaurants ... and we listened to them and listened to how they really were struggling with housing needs. A lot of them were having to bring in people from other counties because people just couldn't afford to live there," Sanders said.
The surveys garnered some noteworthy responses from Wasatch County residents. Among them were 72% of respondents saying they face housing challenges or know someone facing housing challenges. Respondents also reported spending upward of 20%-30% of their annual income on housing.
Additionally, people indicated they want wildlife and water resources to remain protected when thinking about new housing developments.
Using the survey and empirical data, the group then outlined a strategic public relations campaign to address the affordable housing issues in the city. The four proposals presented to the council on Tuesday included the following:
Working with the City Council to amend the moderate-income housing plan section of the Heber City General Plan to have affordable single-family homes to account for 1.5% of annexed or up-zone new development.
Distributing informational flyers and posters to residents and businesses explaining already-existing resources, such as the Community Reinvestment Agency. The group plans to run another survey, facilitated by city officials, from April 1-15.
Creating a social media campaign through a short video explaining various local resources available to Heber City residents under the hashtag #Affordable4All. The video will also include accommodations for Spanish-speaking residents.
Hosting a table at the Heber Valley Community Expo on Saturday, April 12, where the group will connect with, educate and empower residents to understand and utilize affordable housing resources such as the Community Reinvestment Agency. Additionally, the group aims to improve the city's social media outreach to connect citizens with affordable housing resources.
"It goes in line with Gov. Spencer Cox's desire to have 35,000 affordable homes built during his current term in office," Sanders said. "If the city jumps on board with it, they're aligning with much of what the state is already doing."
The City Council was receptive to the students' ideas, even welcoming the challenge of addressing affordable housing.
"Don't back down, even if it is a challenge," Councilman Aaron Cheatwood said. "Challenge us."
After the presentations and a bit of discussion, the City Council agreed to move forward with the group's proposals through a partnership.
Wasatch County's affordable housing situation is especially relevant to UVU, as Heber City is home to the university's Wasatch Campus — the largest regional campus under UVU's umbrella.
'The students will hit the ground running starting March 17 — and between March 17 and April 15, they will execute their campaign within Wasatch County. They'll be meeting with the planning and zoning commission to talk about changes to policy (and) they'll be working with the City Council to talk about, 'Hey, here's how you can make these changes to policy actually work for you,'' Sanders aid. 'These are all things, in the next 30 days, that will happen.'
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