WEBER COUNTY – Making good on a promise made almost one year ago, Gov. Spencer Cox will participate in groundbreaking ceremonies in Plain City to celebrate the construction of new single-family starter homes on Thursday, Oct. 31.
That 9 a.m. event will mark the first visible proof of the Utah’s commitment to Cox’s affordable housing initiative, announced in December of 2023.
Prior to the 2024 legislative session, Cox had hoped that lawmakers would buy into his $150 million investment program aimed at construction of 35,000 new starter homes in Utah over the next five years.
The need for that type of building program is obvious. Utah’s current housing affordability crisis is projected to worsen as the state’s population continues to grow, according to researchers at the Kem C. Gardener Policy Institute at the University of Utah, who say that Utah’s housing shortage will increase to more than 37,000 units in this year alone.
Here in Cache County, for example, a single-family home purchased for $160,000 in 2005 has increased in value to $460,000, according to recent tax notices issued by the Cache County Treasurer’s Office.
In what proved to be a relatively tight budget year, however, lawmakers didn’t go along with the governor’s ambitious plan during their 2024 general session. Instead they worked with Cox’s staff to create a slate of bills that focused less on subsidies and more on free market policies.
Those bills are intended to create new tools that cities and developers can use to finance infrastructure and other needs, in the hope of paving the way for more affordable, single-family housing projects.
That alternative approach is supported by the Utah League of Cities and Towns.
Other officials scheduled to be on-hand for the groundbreaking ceremony in Weber County include Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson; Senate President J. Stuart Adams; House Speaker Mike Schultz; State Treasurer Marlo Oaks; Steve Waldrip, Cox senior advisor for housing; as well as both state lawmakers and Weber County officials.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 2850 West, 2600 North in Plain City