Everyone who values the character of Salt Lake City’s great, diverse neighborhoods — on both the west and east sides — should find troubling the propensity of our mayor, her city planner and some council members to lay the groundwork for the severe deterioration of our neighborhoods. This is particularly irksome since the administration has failed to pursue available alternative measures, such as the sort of city-built and city-owned mixed-income affordable housing (often referred to as “social” or “nonmarket” housing) found in many parts of the world.
Nonmarket housing could (1) provide for far greater housing affordability at every income level, (2) honor the public’s interest in architectural excellence and the quality of our city’s overall built environment (as the city did with the magnificent Main Library), and (3) result in the preservation of the character of existing neighborhoods.
When I walk around my neighborhood, it’s evident which houses are being rented from an absentee landlord and which ones are owner-occupied or at least owned by local residents. The houses owned by absentee landlords are often poorly maintained nuisance houses — some with parties that disrupt the neighborhood until early morning hours.
Imagine how these problems will be exacerbated if accessory dwelling units (ADUs) become much more common, especially if they are out of scale and if there is no owner-occupied requirement. If that happens, people will look back for generations and point to the decision of the council (and the failure by the mayor to veto it) as a major turning point, undermining the quality of life for many of our city’s residents.
This issue is often framed as being a battle between “wealthy homeowners” and “housing advocates” or between the east side and the west side. That narrative is inflammatory and poses a false dichotomy. Homeowners on the west side would not be any happier than homeowners on the east side to have institutional investors buying nearby houses for rentals — or with the destruction of single-family residential zoning. (See the excellent letter to the editor by Angela Morgan, “If ADUs are permitted in Salt Lake City’s west side neighborhoods, strict regulations are a must,” The Salt Lake Tribune, March 19.)
The proposed changes bode poorly for the future of our city. The damage to our neighborhoods would be difficult, if not impossible, to unwind.
To oppose more ADUs or the elimination of the owner-occupied requirement for ADUs does not mean that one views “affordable housing” as a threat to neighborhood character. There should be affordable housing in every neighborhood of the city — but it doesn’t have to take the form of rental units jammed into every lot, many unaffordable and owned by institutional investors.
The discussion in general among the mayor, her planning director, council members, and much of the public ignores alternatives that can achieve far more, architecturally superior, affordable housing, while, at the same time, preserving neighborhood character in current neighborhoods. The city could be achieving far better design than the unimaginative, institutional, boxy apartment buildings that have sprouted up in recent years with no apparent concern about making the built environment more beautiful and interesting.
The city should be building a lot of affordable mixed-income nonmarket housing in areas where there will not be destruction of existing housing nor the adverse transformation of existing neighborhoods. I urge readers to Google “30 social housing projects” and imagine something like the housing structures reflected there being built in undeveloped parts of our city, such as west of the Rio Grande Depot, for instance.
Then imagine the city owning them in perpetuity, so that rental rates are not dictated by private developers’ profit motives.
The mayor and city council have a solemn duty to be responsible stewards of our neighborhoods and to achieve, through careful, innovative planning and execution: (1) sufficient mixed-income affordable — including “deeply affordable” — housing, with abundant open spaces, as is achieved in many nations around the world with nonmarket housing; (2) a standard of design excellence for a built environment we can all enjoy and of which we can all be proud; and (3) the preservation of the character of our diverse neighborhoods in all areas of our city.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rocky Anderson gives perspective on inland port. Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Ross C. “Rocky” Anderson was mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000–2008.