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(Jud Burkett | Special to The Tribune) A sign promoting the Lone Rock Condominium complex stands in front of the complex in Hurricane, Thursday, March 20, 2025.

Even rural Utah has struggled with expensive housing. Here’s how one city is helping level out prices.

Building Options, Part Five: Hurricane is seeing a housing boom and plateauing home prices.

By Megan Banta | Mark Eddington | April 11, 2025, 9:07 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Todd Reeder with the Community Development Corporation of Utah talks about The Howick housing project under construction in Millcreek, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Family-centric, affordable housing is coming to Millcreek. Here’s how the city made it happen.

Building Options, Part Four: How waived fees and a “super streamlined” process helped get 150 units off the ground in Millcreek.

By Megan Banta | April 11, 2025, 12:16 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Wesley Zufelt, right, owner and realtor of Evolve Real Estate & Management in Springville is joined by his partners Joe Wilkins, left, and Collin Brinkerhoff as they pose for a portrait with a new project about to break ground in Vernal called Jurassic/Raptor Heights, Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

Vernal takes a ‘pretty big step’ to help add businesses and homes to its downtown

Building Options, Part Three: The eastern Utah town of Vernal created a new ordinance to bring mixed-use buildings downtown.

By Megan Banta | April 11, 2025, 12:15 p.m.

(Jud Burkett | Special to The Tribune) A variety of homes and condominiums in various states of construction near the Arizona-Utah state line in St. George, Thursday, March 20, 2025. A moderate-income housing program is intended to result in more housing options and variety like this neighborhood and more affordability to households earning 80% or less in the state’s biggest cities and counties.

Amid a housing crisis, this Utah program is helping increase homeownership opportunities

Building Options, Part One: How four cities are making the most of Utah’s moderate-income housing program to spur construction and improve housing affordability.

By Megan Banta | April 3, 2025, 6:33 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A bill would prohibit some cities and counties from requiring garages like the one shown under construction at the Jordanelle Ridge development in Heber City on Friday, June 7, 2024. The bill would only apply to affordably priced homes.

Does your home really need a garage? Making them optional may lower housing costs.

The governor’s senior housing adviser said the bill is a “critical piece” of solving Utah’s housing crisis.

By Megan Banta | February 20, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Manny and Mysti Lopez of Level Up, an intensive outpatient treatment program, in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.

This drug overtook meth for overdose deaths in Utah for the first time last year

Utah is attacking its fentanyl problem. Advocates don’t want compassion left behind as it does.

By Megan Banta | Yeonseung Kim | November 25, 2024, 3:42 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) People recreate along Daybreak's Oquirrh Lake in South Jordan on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

Can Utah officials make housing more affordable? These experts say ‘punch back’ against NIMBYism.

“I think density is a four-letter word, no matter how you spell it,” said Steve Waldrip, a senior housing adviser in the governor’s office, of complaints against new housing development.

By Megan Banta | October 10, 2024, 9:32 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The new Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital in Lehi on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. The head of the Utah Hospital Association pointed to the new hospital as one example of health system gains even as hospitals struggle to keep pace with the state's growth.

Utah has the third lowest rate of hospital beds in the nation. Here’s why.

An industry leader says the state’s rapid growth has outpaced hospitals’ ability to add beds.

By Megan Banta | September 9, 2024, 2:15 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Susan Klinker talks about the process of building a high-efficiency accessory dwelling unit (ADU) behind her home in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, August. 20, 2024.

Want to fight climate change and ease the housing crisis? Build a straw home like this Utahn did.

She sees more ADUs like her highly efficient backyard cottage as key to helping the global environment and state’s housing crunch.

By Sofia Jeremias | September 3, 2024, 1:18 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The city of St. George, Utah. A new survey finds rural Westerners often cope with traveling long distances to get healthcare.

Rural Westerners love their way of life. But it comes at a cost — to their health care.

Frontier residents in five states, including Utah, are seeing doctors less often and forgoing vital medical screenings, a new survey finds.

By Sofia Jeremias | August 9, 2024, 6:40 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Homes and construction in Riverton's Mountain Ridge neighborhood in May 2024. A new report says higher densities, seen as a way to combat Utah's housing crunch, sometimes encounter pushback from residents.

Is community pushback preventing Utah from building more affordable housing?

Or do construction costs, a lack of infrastructure and higher interest rates pose bigger obstacles?

By Sofia Jeremias | August 3, 2024, 2:51 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A sign hangs next to the front door at Granite Library designating the library as a Òcool zone,Ó or a cooling center, in South Salt Lake on July 16, 2024.

As Salt Lake City highs stay above 90, some areas suffer more than others — but there are solutions

The hottest areas in Utah’s capital city are more likely to be diverse or have residents with lower incomes and education levels (and sometimes both).

By Megan Banta | July 31, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) People recreate along Daybreak's Oquirrh Lake in South Jordan on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

Opinion: There’s a missing piece to Utah’s approach to housing affordability, says one Utah planner

“We need to stop looking at housing costs in isolation.”

By Andrew Gruber, as told to the Innovation Lab's Michael Parker | July 25, 2024, 6:59 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) 2,033 acres of BLM land that is part of proposed land swap with Sandy Ranch near Toquerville, on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

Will the White House’s housing plan impact Utah’s federal lands?

In a plan released last week the President called on federal agencies to assess lands that might make sense for housing.

By Sofia Jeremias | July 24, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Modest-priced apartments across Utah, including in Salt Lake City where West Quarter opened in April 2023, are out of reach for most renters.

Here’s what Utahns need to make to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment

Renters in most of the state’s 29 counties likely don’t make enough to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment, a new report found.

By Megan Banta | July 3, 2024, 2:47 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Ballpark neighborhood in Salt Lake City, photographed on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, is one area of Salt Lake City that a report said has been hit particularly hard by gentrification. Family households have four jobs, on average, and the neighborhood has one of the lowest percentages of internet connectivity in the area.

Utah’s middle class is ‘fairly stable.’ Here’s why it might not feel that way.

The state has a larger middle class proportionally than most other states, but housing costs are a big reason why people might not feel like they meet the label, a panel said.

By Megan Banta | June 28, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Housing is booming in Wasatch County as numerous units are constructed at the Jordanelle Ridge development in Heber City on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Two Utah counties have lots of housing being built, but they probably aren’t in most people’s budget

The counties, both in northern Utah, had at least a 6% increase in housing units between 2022 and 2023.

By Megan Banta | June 26, 2024, 3:43 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Construction in Sugar House, Salt Lake City on Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Are parking lots holding back affordable housing?

Turning vacant buildings and empty parking lots into housing is just one solution outlined in a new report from the Utah Foundation.

By Sofia Jeremias | June 21, 2024, 3:00 p.m.

(Tim Fitzpatrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brian Maholy, facility manager for Natural Bridges National Monument, stands in front of the monument's solar array with the Bears Ears in the background.

44 years ago, this Utah national monument made history

In 1980, Natural Bridges National Monument launched the largest solar power plant in the world, and it’s still going.

By Tim Fitzpatrick | June 6, 2024, 11:55 a.m.

(Murice Miller | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Welcome sign for Green River, Utah. November 25, 2020.

Early families in this Utah desert town ‘literally had to bring a house with them.’ That’s practically still true.

Although fewer than 1,000 people live in Green River, it’s facing an affordable housing crisis.

By Sofia Jeremias | June 5, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Decker Lake at 2300 Parkway Blvd, West Valley City, is pictured on Friday, May 17, 2024.

See how close your Utah neighborhood is to nature

Not all Utahns are close enough to nature-rich landscapes to reap the health benefits, and proximity is often linked with income and race or ethnicity.

By Megan Banta | Jose Davila IV | June 2, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A mix of caregivers, people with Alzheimer's and Utahns with concerns about the disease attend an education conference in West Valley City on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

Looking for help with caregiving? Here are resources.

Many Utahns ‘find themselves in the middle of the caregiving role and they don’t really even know where to get started,’ one health department official said.

By Megan Banta | May 24, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Barbara Cameron, left, who has been a caregiver for her mother and mother-in-law, and has some concerns about her husband Robert, expresses her desire to stay active and learn more about Alzheimer’s as they attend the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America education tour in West Valley City on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

From burnout to feeling misunderstood, the Utahns who care for loved ones are struggling. Here’s where they can get help.

A recent survey found as people provide more hours of care for a loved one, they’re more likely to delay their own health care and experience financial and mental stress as they struggle to balance caregiving, family life, work and self care.

By Megan Banta | May 22, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Homes and construction in Riverton's Mountain Ridge neighborhood on Friday, May 3, 2024.

Here’s how much you need to earn to buy a home in Utah — without going over budget

The Salt Lake Tribune looked at median home sale prices and calculated the needed income to spend less than 28% of monthly pay on a mortgage. Here’s what we found for all of Utah’s 29 counties.

By Megan Banta | May 17, 2024, 12:02 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Homes in Riverton's Mountain Ridge neighborhood on Friday, May 3, 2024.

Buying a home in Utah could break the bank in all but one county

Potential homebuyers describe Utah’s housing market as ‘demoralizing’ and ‘depressing’ in interviews with The Tribune.

By Megan Banta | May 15, 2024, 4:43 p.m.