Community advocates continue call for affordable housing in SEG/SLC plan

Jul 3, 2024, 9:00 PM | Updated: Jul 23, 2024, 3:53 pm

A view of the University of Utah, downtown Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake is visible from Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

BY LINDSAY AERTS

KSLNewsRadio

SALT LAKE CITY — Community advocates are continuing a call for affordable housing to be part of any plans to revitalize downtown, arguing that ticket fees that would go to Salt Lake City to help pay for more housing are not enough.

That was part of the newly proposed terms between Smith Entertainment Group and Salt Lake City, which was listed in an executive summary released Tuesday.

Related: Salt Lake and Smith Entertainment Group downtown plan includes ticket fees, contract terms revealed

Crossroads Urban Center said they still want more guarantees from the city and SEG that any of the new housing developments will help those who they say have been priced out of the market.

“We need to do a better job of providing housing for everyone in our community, not just people who can afford the top floor of a skyscraper,” said Glenn Bailey, executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center.

Related: Smith Entertainment Group addresses the logistics and politics of bringing the NHL to Utah

Bailey has openly called for 20% of any new housing built in the downtown zone to be affordable and deeply affordable housing, 10% of units for those making under $60,000 per year, and 10% for those making under $30,000 per year.

“The reason people use food pantries is because they’ve just paid the rent or they’ve just paid the utility bills, you know, and people are facing higher utility bills as well as higher rent. They’re getting priced out of the market,” Bailey said.

In the contract between SEG and Salt Lake City, there is some money planned for housing. According to the contract, $1 to $3 per ticket for any Delta Center event gets put into a fund to help the city pay for “family-sized and affordable housing and other public benefit initiatives as determined by the city.”

“It’s nice, but it’s not enough,” Bailey said, “and it’s coming from the people buying the tickets, not the business who’s being subsidized by our public dollars.”