2 days ago
‘We desperately need to do more': Utah Gov. Cox convenes mayors to urge more action on housing
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a news conference after a housing summit hosted at the Governor's Mansion in Salt Lake City on May 29, 2025. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
In the spirit of 'collaboration' rather than preemption — a dynamic that for several years now has undergirded policy discussions over what should be done to address Utah's affordable housing crisis — Gov. Spencer Cox invited mayors from across the state to the Governor's Mansion in Salt Lake City on Thursday to talk.
Utah has more than 250 cities and towns, but mayors from about 40 cities came to the governor's 'Built Here Housing Summit' to trade ideas in a closed-door meeting. In a news conference held outside the governor's mansion immediately after, Cox said they came together to work toward a 'shared goal' that he described as 'very simple, but urgent.'
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'How can we work together — state and local — to make housing more attainable for Utah families?' Cox said.
At the end of 2023, Cox set an ambitious 'moonshot' goal for the state and its home builders: build 35,000 new starter homes by 2028. Since then, Cox said 5,100 have been built or are in process across the state.
'We know that's not enough,' Cox said. 'We're on our way, but we desperately need to do more. With Utah's growing population, we need to do more, and we need to move faster.'
The biggest challenge facing city and state officials when it comes to housing policy? Cox said it's the constant 'tension' between state and local government when it comes to local control over zoning and land use and whether state leaders should use preemption powers to force local governments to allow more housing types.
Though some lawmakers have wanted the state to take more aggressive actions, in recent years the Utah Legislature has taken a gentler, 'collaborative approach,' focusing on providing a variety of planning tools to incentivize cities and developers to build more owner-occupied 'starter homes.'
Meanwhile, other states including Colorado, California and Massachusetts have passed housing policy changes that have prompted lawsuits from cities resisting state mandates. The Utah Legislature hasn't flexed that muscle — at least not yet. Time will tell whether the toolbox the Utah Legislature has so far built to incentivize housing development will make a difference.
But to gain momentum, Cox said state leaders must work with — not against — mayors and other city leaders to find solutions for affordable housing.
'The American dream of home ownership is slowly but surely slipping away from far too many, out of reach of our children and grandchildren,' he said. 'Reversing that trend requires collaboration, requires courage, and action from all levels of government.'
About a dozen mayors who attended Cox's summit also joined Thursday's news conference, including Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd, Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer and Spanish Fork Mayor Mike Mendenhall — all from cities that have utilized some of the zoning tools, like transit-oriented development, to build housing projects.
Cox didn't name names, but he said there are still some 'bad actors' or a 'few cities here and there that aren't approving plans, that are taking years to get things done, that are very purposely driving up costs to make it so development can't happen.'
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'And yet,' the governor added, 'we have dozens and dozens and dozens of cities who are doing this the right way.' He said 'we want to learn from each other,' but across 250 jurisdictions, 'oftentimes we don't share the wins, the things that are happening.'
'So,' Cox said, 'here's what's next.'
He announced that the state is launching a 'statewide housing dashboard so that everyone from residents to city planners can track progress, identify gaps and learn from their successes.'
'We're committed to ensuring Utah doesn't fall behind on housing reform,' Cox said.
The dashboard, circulated later Thursday afternoon by the governor's office, includes a heat map of where deed restricted units, deeply affordable units, and other forms of more affordable housing have been built. It also includes data on where the 5,100 'starter homes' have so far been planned or built. Most – 2,489 — are in Utah County. Salt Lake County has 706, and Tooele County has 432, according to the dashboard.
As of Thursday, however, the site was still a work in progress, with some pages saying 'data under development.'
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Steve Waldrip, Cox's senior housing adviser, told reporters that the dashboard is being built using data from the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, as well as data from a variety of real estate sources.
If everyone can see what communities are making progress on providing housing options — and which cities aren't — Waldrip said the dashboard may act as a 'carrot-shaped stick' to push cities to do more for housing.
'You can take it either way,' he said. 'It will highlight those who are succeeding. And that's not a bad thing.'
Cox — who once served as mayor of his rural hometown of Fairview — said he knows local officials face challenges when it comes to housing. 'I have a tremendous amount of empathy for what they're going through,' he said, adding that he knows some have opted not to run for office again because of controversy over higher density housing projects.
'They'll do the right thing and improve a development that will benefit future generations, and then there's a referendum, and the project gets denied,' Cox said. 'They get voted out of office, because a small, very vocal group of neighbors … can (get) very angry about any type of new housing going in.'
So Cox said he 'appreciated' their willingness to engage with state leaders to be part of the solution.
The mayors who spoke during Thursday's news conference framed Utah's housing issue as a personal one that threatens quality of life for their kids and grandkids.
Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd said all but one of his seven kids have homes of their own because they bought during the time when they could.' But he said he has one daughter he can't afford to buy amid today's higher housing prices, and 'the ironic thing is, she's married to a developer.'
'She's married to a home builder, and can't afford to build a house,' Shepherd said. 'The cost of everything has skyrocketed. We need a place to put our kids. We need a place to put those who want to come to the state, and that's every level of housing.'
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Though 40 mayors engaged with the governor on Thursday, Waldrip acknowledged there are still others that remain resistant to allowing more housing.
'I would definitely say no, not all mayors are on board with it. Some mayors have been elected in different cities on a platform of no growth. Mayors have been kicked out of office because they approved growth,' Waldrip said. 'So those mayors feel an obligation to stick to their campaign promise.'
However, Waldrip said he's also talked to some of those mayors who now have changed their tune, realizing it's a 'real problem' and the lack of housing is leading some to give up on the American dream.
To Spanish Fork Mayor Mike Mendenhall, Utah's housing problem shouldn't be political — and it can be fixed if leaders focus on the need for solutions rather than the barriers.
'If we can find a way for this problem not to be political, but be practical,' Mendenhall said, 'I'm confident that we can solve these problems for home ownership in our state.'
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