Hundreds of new affordable housing units coming to northern Utah
Sep 19, 2023, 3:33 PM | Updated: 3:41 pm
One of the new affordable housing designs slated for Magna, Utah, and introduced Tuesday by Ivory Innovations and the Call to Action Foundation. Combined, the companies plan to bring 850 affordable housing units to northern Utah. (Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio)
(Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio)
SALT LAKE CITY— Foundations funded by two large Utah companies have outlined their plans to build 850 affordable housing units in Utah over the next three years.
Ivory Innovations, funded by Ivory Homes, and the Call to Action Foundation, funded by FJ Management have announced plans to build the units in Draper, Magna, South Jordan, Lehi, Park City, Francis, and right in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.
Sixty of the units will be developed at the old Liberty Wells Center on 700 South and 400 East in Salt Lake City. That land was donated to the foundations by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
According to a recent report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, nine out of 10 Utahns can’t afford a median-priced home in the Beehive State. That has contributed to the 333,000 renter households in the state and many of those have struggled to meet the skyrocketing cost of rent.
A drop in the bucket
Ivory Homes CEO Clark Ivory said this is just the beginning of putting a dent in the growing and widespread problem of affordable housing in Utah.
“I think it’s not a drop in the bucket if we start something today that ends up not just being one project,” Ivory said. “I think it’s all about collaboration … joining together.”
Crystal Maggelet, CEO and chairwoman of FJ Management, owns companies like Maverick, Big West Oil, and Crystal Inn. She said they surveyed 14,000 Maverick employees, and found that most of them worried about affording housing and food.
“This is a huge issue … not only for them but, for many other people in our country,” Maggelet said. “If we can do our part in our home state to make it easier and more affordable for everyone, that’s what we want to do.”
“If we all come together, we can solve this housing challenge. There’s no question about it,” Ivory said.
Other reading:
- Salt Lake City housing plan includes 10K new units within five years
- Utah ranks 45th in the country for affordable housing
- Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones, solution for growing Utah?
- Utah’s eviction numbers are on the rise as rental relief funds run out
