Housing Affordability Prioritized in Recently Approved 'Growing SLC Plan'

Salt Lake City approved a new comprehensive housing plan last week, with the goal of easing prices and increasing supply.

Bill Dentzer reports on the new plan, which is the city's first in nearly two decades:

The “Growing SLC” housing plan is a nearly 200-page document developed by the city office of Housing and Neighborhood Development. Issued in February and tweaked throughout the year, it is intended to guide city housing policy for the next five-10 years, emphasizing affordability, opportunity and equality for residents at all income levels. It starts from the premise that the city is facing an incipient housing crisis.

The plan would implement these goals by allowing "zoning changes would permit increased density and different types of housing, from accessory dwellings to cottages, row houses and small apartment buildings."

Shortly after the City Council approved the plan, Mayor Jackie Biskupski moved forward with the first official action: "instructing city officials to write rules to require that sellable surplus city land be evaluated for housing development," according to Dentzer.