Utah officials consider selling underutilized government land to combat housing crisis
Aug 13, 2025, 2:09 PM
A new state program would allow Utah officials to sell plots of undeveloped land and, in turn, build affordable housing on the land. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — A new state program would allow Utah officials to sell plots of land for which they no longer have a use to developers, who would then build starter condos on the land. Developers would then sell the plots at a fixed rate.
The program was made possible by HB360, passed into law in 2025. The bill “provides that the Department of Transportation may make rules regarding the sale of surplus real property to a state agency under certain conditions.”
According to Steve Waldrip, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s senior advisor for housing strategy and innovation, the land would not include parks or other land the public uses.
Instead, he said the plots are mostly dirt lots or half-paved lots currently owned by the Utah Department of Transportation and located along the Wasatch Front.
“We’d like to have it transferred to a land trust or something along those lines, where we can maintain that value in the public interest and for the public good for the long term,” Waldrip told KSL NewsRadio.
The overall goal is to help give Utahns who can’t afford the price of a home in Utah right now a way to break into the housing market.
“For a long time, Utah was a place where you had an inexpensive cost of living,” Waldrip said, “but a challenge finding well-paying work. That’s no longer the case. We have great jobs now. Companies have come in and discovered Utah.”
But factor in the cost to buy a home in Utah right now, and young people have some decisions to make.
“Home ownership is completely out of reach,” he said, “and so we’re losing them to Tennessee and to Ohio and Texas. We’re losing our youth because they can’t achieve the American dream here that they can elsewhere.
He said we need to return the opportunity of home ownership to young people in Utah.
“If we can build several thousand condos over the course of a few years with this program, then that keeps several thousand Utahns here,” Waldrip said.
Contributing: Simone Seikaly
Related: New online tool helps people find affordable housing
