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2 days ago
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‘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.' Utah governor doubles down on goal to build 35K homes in 5 years '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.' Utah's new housing experiment '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.' Cox: There are 'broken incentive structures' worsening Utah's housing crisis 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.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 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.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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2 days ago
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Utah unveils new housing dashboard in effort to hit ‘moonshot' goal of building 35,000 starter homes
SALT LAKE CITY () — Governor Spencer Cox met with over 40 mayors and local officials around the state for a housing summit, addressing the efforts that are being made to build more starter homes, including a statewide dashboard to help streamline development. Gov. Cox announced plans at the to construct 35,000 starter homes within five years. He shared that since that announcement, 5,100 starter homes have been built and sold. 'We know that's not enough. We're on our way, but we desperately need to do more. With Utah's growing population and we need to do more and we need to move faster,' he said. Part of the solution, he said, is working with individual cities. He admitted that sometimes there are 'bad actors,' or a few cities that aren't approving plans or trying to drive up costs to prevent development, who can make things more difficult. But more so, he focused on how cities are contributing to fix the problem, saying dozens and dozens of them are striving to improve the housing crisis. How Utah is working toward increasing more 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. Reversing that trend requires collaboration. It requires courage and action from all levels of government,' he said. 'We are committed to building 35,000 starter homes in the next four years. That's our moonshot, and we are making progress.' The governor announced there will be resources to help track and meet this goal, such as a statewide housing dashboard between city governments and the state, which will track progress and identify gaps in success. The summit also looked at reforms being adopted in other states, including parking mandates, legalizing accessory dwelling units and modernizing building codes. 'We're committed to ensuring Utah doesn't fall behind on housing reform. We know there's been news this week of other states that are passing major housing reform packages. We're watching those closely. We're looking at the reform packages that we've passed over the past couple of years, getting those implemented and watching those changes starting to take hold. These are bipartisan and practical reforms, not left or right, just smart. Utah has always been a leader in that area, and we intend to stay,' he said. The Supreme Court reinstates federal approval in Uinta Basin Railway project Clearfield City Mayor Mark Shepherd said housing is an issue that needs to be addressed at every level. He added that legislation in recent years, such as H.B. 462 in 2022, known as Utah Housing Affordability Amendments, and (HTRZ), are now seeing success. 'Without this, the market would have supported about 16,000 units, but with that, the HTRZs, we're now expecting 42,000 units. We are in the process. We see it coming. We've got cities doing everything they can to try to make this happen,' he said. 'There are areas where we need cities' help. We need them to delve in more. We need them to stick the shovels in the ground and really make an effort. But the vast majority of our cities in the state are making huge strides in housing.' Herriman Mayor Lauren Palmer added that housing is a concern to everyone in the community, which is why it's important for local leaders to come together. 'We have kids that are being impacted by the housing crisis right now, by the price of housing, so as we look forward to collaborating with our development partners, with the state, with other leaders around us, we look forward to finding ways to convert those entitled units into units that can be lived in by our children,' he said. 'They can be an asset to this community that can help people stay in this wonderful state and our wonderful communities that we have helped develop.' Cat who survived 400-foot Bryce Canyon fall adopted by rescuing pilot SLCPD arrest man for nearly hitting officers with vehicle while fleeing traffic stop Utah unveils new housing dashboard in effort to hit 'moonshot' goal of building 35,000 starter homes DOJ cutting American Bar Association access to judicial nominees Kanab sex offender charged with 50 felonies for sexual exploitation of a minor Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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3 days ago
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Gov. Cox creates new council to help prepare Utah for a bright future
As the state of Utah continues to grow rapidly, a new coordinating council will bring together various state agencies and other entities to coordinate and communicate plans for the future in order to keep quality of life in the state from decreasing. On Wednesday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order to create the BUILD coordinating council. BUILD stands for: Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development. The council will coordinate efforts between multiple agencies for long-term planning in the state and will be chaired by state planning coordinator and senior adviser to the governor Laura Hanson. Hanson said the creation of this council comes as Utah is at a pivotal point where the state is growing rapidly. When this growth first started, many Utahns were excited about it, Hanson said. 'But we've hit a point where Utahns are starting to feel a little anxious about the growth and a little bit of concern, worry that the Utah of the future may not be as high quality as the Utah of today,' Hanson said. The council will include people from various state agencies such as the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Quality. Other associations represented on the council include the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air, and the Utah Association of Counties. 'As Utah evolves, everything from water use to transportation is affected,' said Cox, according to a press release. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional.' 'The goal of this coordinating council is to bring together decision makers and thought leaders and researchers in a whole variety of different policy areas, from transportation, air quality, economic development, housing, water, homelessness and public safety, the Olympics, but also local governments and private sector partners through the chamber to come together and have a conversation about what is the kind of Utah that we want for the future,' Hanson said. The council will meet to discuss the various planning efforts of the different groups and how to coordinate those efforts. Hanson said the goal is to 'ensure that we are moving toward the shared goals that we have as Utahns, and make sure that the future is just as great as it is today, and that we don't lose all the things that make Utah special, even as we bring in a larger population.' Different state agencies and other groups are developing their own long-range plans and goals within their areas, and this new council will provide a way for these efforts and different entities within the state to be aligned and coordinated. The creation of this council builds on HCR11, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2024 and focused on cross-issue impacts. 'Even if a policy area doesn't directly touch another policy area, there are indirect connections between these things like transportation and our air quality, like our housing and development patterns and our water consumption or preservation of agricultural land and open space. There are all these connections between these various different topics,' Hanson said. She added that, many times, policymakers and state agencies are focused on specific, individual issues, but regular Utahns are concerned about quality of life as a whole, and this council will be able to align many different issues in order to make sure Utah as a whole continues to improve. Specific areas that the council will be looking into include water, transportation, housing, air quality and recreation. 'It is very broad, which I think, is a challenge, but it's also an opportunity for us to think really holistically about where we want Utah to be in the future,' Hanson said. The coordinating council will meet together four times a year, with Hanson as the chair. Two yet-to-be-named co-chairs who will work with Hanson. One will be an executive branch co-chair and the other will be an external stakeholder co-chair. Hanson added that some sort of executive committee might also be formed within the council that can do work in between the quarterly meetings. The council's first meeting will be on July 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the Capitol. This meeting will be open to the public. At the first meeting, the group will start identifying what stakeholders want Utah to look like in the future and set statewide goals based on public input from the past. The different state agencies and entities involved will also be able to share their goals and plans for the future and how those can affect other areas and groups. 'So now we're building those connections, and it's really all about coordination. It's about talking together more. It's about being intentional about the future that we want.' The council will also develop an annual report that will be given to the governor and Legislature. This report will discuss changes that are happening in the state, constraints on natural resources and infrastructure, and will outline a list of high priority areas that need to be focused on as a state. 'We have limited resources, but we have tons of needs, and so this is an opportunity for us to come together and say, OK, with our limited resources, which focus areas are going to get us the biggest bang for the buck, what are the most critical things that can make or break quality of life in Utah,' Hanson said.
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4 days ago
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Gov. Cox seeks to unite state agencies, organizations to strategize on Utah growth
New homes are under construction in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order on Wednesday bringing a handful of state agencies together to try and better manage the state's growth. The order creates the BUILD (Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development) Coordinating Council, tasked with streamlining efforts and long-term planning related to housing, transportation, water, energy, open space, recreation, air quality and quality of life. Utah routinely ranks among the country's fastest growing states, and the executive order is the latest example of elected officials trying to wrangle the population boom. 'As Utah evolves, everything from water use to transportation is affected,' Cox said in a statement on Wednesday. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional.' According to the executive order, the council has five main responsibilities — creating a shared vision for Utah's future; making sure state agencies are aligned in their long-term plans; identifying ways to 'leverage state investments for greater impact'; and collaborating across state agencies to address growth. The council is also required to produce an annual report to the governor, lieutenant governor and Legislature. The order builds on a resolution passed by the Legislature earlier this year. Sponsored by Rep. Bridger Bolinder, R-Grantsville, HCR11 encourages state and local governments, as well as the private sector, to consider 'cross-issue growth impacts in decision-making processes.' 'A growing population means an increased demand for housing, transportation, water, energy, and open space and recreation,' Bolinder said earlier this year. 'Growth issues are interrelated and decisions on one issue often affect other growth-related issues.' The council will be made up of the following: The senior adviser for long-range planning, who also serves as the Utah planning coordinator and will act as the chair of the committee The senior adviser for housing strategy and innovation The Utah energy adviser The state homeless coordinator The executive director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget The executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity The executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources The executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation The executive director of the Utah Department of Public Safety The executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality The executive director the Utah Department of Heath and Human Services The commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food The commission will also include a number of representatives from higher education and local governments, like: The University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Utah State University's Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air Southern Utah University's Utah Center for Rural Life Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2034 The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce The Utah League of Cities and Towns The Utah Association of Counties Envision Utah A rural region Association of Governments An urban region Association of Governments SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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4 days ago
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Gov. Cox signs executive order to establish new council focused on Utah's future and ‘quality of life'
SALT LAKE CITY () — On May 28, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an to establish the BUILD Coordinating Council — a new council aimed at helping the state of Utah plan for the future. BUILD is an acronym for 'Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development,' according to Cox's executive order. According to the governor's office, the council will 'bring state agencies together' to help the Beehive State work toward meeting demands for housing, energy, air quality, and more. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional,' Cox said. 6 Utah cities ranked among the best 250 places to live in the U.S. — and Salt Lake didn't make the cut The executive order establishes the council and describes some of its duties. It describes Utah as 'one of the fastest growing states in the nation' and says that means there is an increasing demand for resources in the state. The council will work to 'advance shared statewide goals' and 'facilitate greater coordination' in the state, as well as work to improve or maintain the quality of life for current and future Utahns. The members of the BUILD council will meet quarterly to establish goals, review changes occurring in the state, review and draft long-range plans, endorse final plans, and produce annual reports for the governor and lieutenant governor, among other duties. 'Chaired by the State Planning Coordinator, the council will include senior advisors and executive directors from key state agencies such as transportation, natural resources, environmental quality, health and human services, agriculture and food and others,' the governor's office said. Representatives from various other entities will also be invited to participate. The executive order does not apply to the legislative and judicial branches of the government, higher education institutions, independent entities, and a handful of other offices. The governor's office said the establishment of the BUILD Coordinating Council 'builds on the intent' of a 2024 concurrent resolution to recognize the 'importance of cross-issue growth impacts.' The executive order went into effect on May 28. Syracuse police seeking assault suspect that left victim in critical condition 19-year-old worker killed in accident at Eagle Mountain construction site Gov. Cox signs executive order to establish new council focused on Utah's future and 'quality of life' Trump punts on Musk criticism of 'big beautiful bill' White House to send DOGE cuts package to Congress as Speaker promises quick action Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
