More than a year after its opening, a vital Salt Lake City housing project has finalized plans to expand.
Switchpoint, a nonprofit aimed at sheltering Utahns experiencing homelessness, is adding on to its supportive housing complex for seniors and veterans with the help of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation and a state fund.
The building, known as the Fairpark Deeply Affordable and Permanently Supportive Housing project, will get upgrades and an addition, thanks to twin $1 million grants from Utah’s predominant faith and the Miller Family Foundation, along with $1.8 million from the state’s Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund.
“This funding not only enables us to enhance the infrastructure of our project,” Switchpoint CEO Carol Hollowell said in a news release, “but also to expand the range of services we can offer to our residents, fostering a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
The complex, at 130 N. 2100 West, opened in May 2023, and a formerly homeless senior or veteran occupies each of its 91 studio apartments. Right now, amenities include an on-site laundry and a food pantry.
The planned two-story addition will bring new services to the site, helping Switchpoint better provide wraparound support to residents. A library, new community spaces, restrooms and offices for case managers are all in the plans. The addition will also house three new studio apartments.
The main building itself will get upgrades to its electrical and fire sprinkler systems.
Switchpoint was founded as a St. George emergency shelter in 2014, but it now focuses more on buying and providing housing for people struggling with homelessness and poverty. Since 2020, it has built five housing projects statewide, adding more than 250 units to the market.
