With worries mounting over a lack of affordable housing, key members of the Salt Lake City Council say they want to begin steering new government-backed residential projects away from the west side.
Council members Erin Mendenhall, James Rogers and Andrew Johnston are voicing concerns that policies and cheaper land prices are tilting the scales toward locating publicly subsidized housing in neighborhoods west of Interstate 15.
Mendenhall proposes a new multimillion-dollar city fund to offset the trend, which she and others say threatens to worsen geographic inequalities by clustering lower-income residents in areas that already lack access to services and economic opportunity.
"The frustration is tangible right now," echoed Johnston, whose council district covers the west side south of Interstate 80.
Their outcry surfaces as officials are increasingly focused on addressing an affordable and low-income housing shortage that some argue is reaching crisis levels.
Various estimates peg the shortage of affordable dwellings for low- and middle-income residents at 3,800 to 7,500 units. Official metrics define residents as cost-burdened when they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
Johnston recently joined Mendenhall and Rogers in challenging two new apartment projects receiving public tax credits — one proposed at 755 W. South Temple and another at 1999 W. North Temple.
About 75 percent of the 80 new dwellings in the Bodhi Apartments on South Temple will offer subsidized rents below market rates, as will 58 percent of the 168 units to be built at North Temple Flats.
"Nothing else is even close to that elsewhere in the city," Johnston said. "The best we're getting anywhere else is maybe 20 percent affordable."
Added Rogers, whose district spans the west side north of I-80: "There is no equity across the city."
The three sought unsuccessfully in May to block Bodhi Apartments, backed by the Housing Authority of Salt Lake County, from locating within city limits. They also have questioned approval of a $1 million loan from the city's Housing Trust Fund for the $21.6 million North Temple Flats project.
"This is a very, very problematic issue on the west side," Johnston told his colleagues.
Mendenhall, who represents south-central neighborhoods surrounding Smith's Ballpark and Liberty Park, hopes to create a new $4.5 million-plus fund in the city's Redevelopment Agency for affordable housing on the east side, mostly by offsetting higher land values.
During an otherwise routine budget discussion last week, Mendenhall persuaded fellow council members to support pulling dollars from a variety of other funds in the RDA for east side housing construction. Staffers are fleshing out the idea for a possible City Council vote in September.
"It's really clear that property costs are the main issue leading to geographic inequity," Mendenhall said in an interview. "But no one is thinking about creating a financial mechanism to balance that playing field."
She praised the city's Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) division for emphasizing a need for mixed-income housing citywide as it vets projects receiving taxpayer aid. "But the reality of that price gap from east side to west side is the limiting factor," Mendenhall said.
HAND Director Mike Akerlow said the division was "thrilled" at Mendenhall's initiative. The city might tap the money, he said, to buy land in east-side neighborhoods, help developers reduce their costs or offer discount vouchers directly to renters.
But, he added, surveys of west-siders indicate they continue to want additional affordable housing close by.
"The administration agrees completely that there needs to be an equitable distribution across the city," Akerlow said. "But that doesn't mean no more housing should go on the west side."
He noted several large multifamily housing projects with affordable units have been built recently on the east side and that fully market-rate complexes have gone up west of I-15.
"There is a great need," Akerlow said, "across the city."
First-term Mayor Jackie Biskupski said she was "very excited that the council is as focused on creating affordable housing as I am." She questioned, however, the idea of targeting the efforts on specific neighborhoods.
"Our city is becoming a place that all walks of life want to live in," Biskupski said. "That drives up housing prices no matter what part of the city you are living in.
"I am going to ask some questions about this," the mayor added, "and make sure we are being mindful of this entire city as we work on this issue."
tsemerad@sltrib.com
Twitter: @TonySemerad
Andrew Johnston. Council District 2
