7 new Utah affordable house projects announced
Sep 19, 2023, 1:18 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — A new development plan could help Utah families struggling to find affordable housing.
On Tuesday, Utah officials were joined by Ivory Innovations and the Call to Action Foundation at the Liberty Wells Center on 7th South and 4th East.
The recreation center was donated to the project by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April. This land will be used to develop 36 affordable townhomes and 30 apartments.
It’s one piece of the puzzle to build 850 units over the next three years in Salt Lake, Utah, and Summit County.
“When 77% of your state can’t afford the price of housing today, we know that something has gone wrong,” said Gov. Spencer Cox during the announcement.
Communities in Salt Lake City, Lehi, South Jordan, Francis, Park City, Draper, and Magna will house a mix of townhomes, condos, and apartments.
“If we can do our part to make it easier and more affordable for everyone, than that’s what we want to do,” said Crystal Maggelet, CEO and chairwoman of FJ Management, who owns Maverik. “We have 14,000 employees now. How many of them are hourly, and this is a huge issue.”
Clark D. Ivory, CEO of Ivory Homes, said it’s a similar issue for them as 41% of affordable units have gone since 2011.
“The 900 homes that we announced today are more important than anything we’ve done to date, and when you think about it, they’re more important because they’re hitting a price point that is so challenging to hit, and they involve you no more collaboration and cooperation than anything else we done,” Ivory said.
At Liberty Wells – 25% of the townhomes will be rented out at market rate, and 35% will go to those making 80% of the area’s median income.
