City officials have given an initial OK to funnel cash to Salt Lake City residents whose west-side homes were swamped by a water main break last month.

The City Council’s latest budget amendment for the fiscal year would pump up to $50,000 in housing aid toward helping families displaced by the Aug. 16 flooding, with those relief funds to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Utah Department of Transportation.

While the amendment is set for approval Oct. 6, the relief money could start to flow within the next few days to a handful of families put out of their homes after a torrent of water erupted near 500 South and Emery Street in the Poplar Grove neighborhood.

Mike Akerlow, deputy director of community services for the city’s Department of Community and Neighborhoods, said the city hoped to use the funds “imminently” while some displaced residents continue to live in hotels or with other family members.

“Those are not ideal,” Akerlow said, “and they’re also very temporary.”

The city and UDOT, he added, are trying to locate places in the neighborhood for residents to live while they continue to dig out. “So as soon as we find those,” Akerlow said, “we’ll have a better idea on how quickly we need to make those payments.”

Some affected neighbors have questioned the adequacy of the city’s response to the flooding until now.

“It has been heartbreaking and disheartening to not have been responded to in an emergency matter,“ said resident Ana Jenny Fernandez, who added that residents were thankful they would now to see some financial relief, albeit a month later.

Poplar Grove resident Shirley Reyes told the council Tuesday that since that night, “all of the residents have come together to try to figure out this mess while taking care of each other. Most of us, to no surprise, are not covered by insurance.”

As to the initially approved relief, Reyes added, “the only thing I have to say is that this is just a start.”

Funds to flow as cleanup continues

As many as 15 families, some of them in multigenerational households, saw their homes flooded in the late-night water break. A deluge of pressurized water beneath 500 South, according to the city’s initial review, created a car-size sinkhole in street that appears to have drained water toward the homes.

A monthlong cleanup of the affected households has ensued, with more to come and at least one family temporarily sleeping in a tent in their backyard in the meantime.

Council Chair Alejandro Puy, whose District 2 spans the neighborhood and who helped spearhead the relief funds, has called the residents’ plight “terrible” and urged approval of the aid as the situation is being more fully sorted out.

“We’re not necessarily trying to replace insurance claims or take ownership or fault,” Puy said last week as the funds were being assembled, “but it is a place to support the immediate stabilization of households while that process goes through.”

As the council showed its support for the cash, Fernandez urged leaders to continue to listen to affected residents as probes continue into the incident, which flooded basements and ground floors and did severe damage to many of the houses along that stretch.

“I really want you to recognize that this is our livelihoods,” she said, “and that we are still not back in our homes.”

Council waives conditions

Along with approving the relief, the council also moved to tentatively waive a set of conditions that might otherwise apply to the cash, which is being drawn from the city’s tenant and homeowner loan fund. That’ll mean:

• Residents will be eligible based on their displacement or on damage to their homes, as opposed to their household incomes.

• Renters and homeowners will both be eligible.

• The cash will be available until the homes are habitable or until the funds run out, whichever comes first.

• The money can be used for temporary displacement costs, such as rental assistance or hotel costs — as well as necessary home repairs for damage caused by the flooding.

The most recent example of comparable disaster relief in Salt Lake City got approved last year for business affected by the Aug. 11, 2025, fire on Main Street between 300 South and 400 South. The city moved swiftly after the fire to create a $600,000 emergency loan fund to assist the cluster of downtown restaurants and bars severely damaged in the blaze and has since offered interest-free loans to help them to rebuild.

The city also offered assistance payments to tenants who were forced to relocate, or had property that was lost or damaged when a July 25, 2025, fire destroyed two buildings and displaced 40 people at the Willow Glen Apartments in Millcreek.

That blaze was thought to have been sparked when a Salt Lake City worker struck a rock while mowing city-owned land near the apartments.

As sources for this latest cash relief were being finalized, Mayor Erin Mendenhall said that UDOT and the city’s Department of Public Utilities had a third party investigating who was responsible for the water main break, which was related to line work on the 500 South Jordan River Bridge.

The mayor likened the incident to the flushing of a repaired car radiator that might create unforeseen breakages elsewhere in the pumping network.

“My understanding is that when that system was recharged with the new line section repaired, about 50 feet down there was a breakage that’s affected these homes,” she said, adding that existing water pipes throughout much the city “are not brand new.”

In the meantime, Mendenhall said UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras has assured city officials “he absolutely wants these residents to be taken care of.” His agency was responsible for the 500 South bridge work.

That assurance, the mayor said, has included the agency putting up its own $50,000 toward matching the city’s relief fund to pay to “stably house” residents while officials determine the full extent of damage and funding sources for needed repairs.