North Salt Lake homeowners blindsided by news of possible homeless shelter
Aug 27, 2024, 5:36 PM | Updated: 7:07 pm
NORTH SALT LAKE — A homeless shelter could be moving near a North Salt Lake neighborhood, and county leaders said there’s little they can do to stop it.
About two blocks from the Foxboro subdivision is the former LifeLine Teen Treatment Center, which could soon become a new homeless shelter with at least 80 beds.
“Everybody agrees that there needs to be places for the homeless people, services, and help. This place has no access to any of that,” said Sharon Stanger, one of the homeowners who lives near the proposed site.
After learning about the upcoming shelter, Stanger and dozens of other residents confronted the Davis County Commission on Tuesday. However, the commissioners said there was very little they could do about the shelter also.
“The process is very challenging because, on the one hand, it’s designed to not be open and public,” said Davis County Commissioner Lorene Kamalu.
The abandoned LifeLine building in North Salt Lake City on Aug. 27, 2024. (Mike Anderson, KSL TV)
Kamalu said that local task forces, comprised of the area mayors and a county commissioner, were tasked with developing housing plans for Code Blue conditions in the winter.
She said the task force offered to bus people to a shelter, but the Utah Homeless Services Board rejected that proposal. By state law, the task force needed to have a plan set for the homeless and Code Blue.
“This is very hard to fulfill a law for code blue and winter response but not have had funds. It’s considered an unfunded mandate,” Kamalu said.
In the meantime, a nonprofit called Switchpoint came forward with plans to buy the former teen treatment center building, which the state board favored, even though residents did not know about it.
“I’ve got small kids, and the proposed homeless shelter is right next to the trail where we walk on all the time,” said homeowner Amy Everett in the meeting.
Homeowner in the packed Davis County Commission building on Aug. 27, 2024. (Mike Anderson, KSL TV)
“I was very upset that it was going to be moving into our neighborhood as well as upset that we had not heard about this or been given information about where we could find out more or be part of the process prior to today,” added homeowner Christy Roe.
The commissioners said Switchpoint has been successful in the St. George area. The program requires the occupants to work, give back to the community, and become self-sufficient within 90 days.
The commission is also asking that the task force process be made more public and is encouraging homeowners to lobby their local lawmakers for that change. Homeowners can also attend the Utah Homeless Board meetings as they are public.
