HERRIMAN, Utah — Governor Spencer Cox held a bill signing ceremony in the fast-growing community of Herriman to call attention to legislation passed this year expanding affordable housing options and homeless services.
The bills are important, but much more important are the millions of dollars in funding attached to them.
"The funding piece is really, really critical," said the governor. "Getting that extra money in there for these affordable housing units."
While the governor signed a bill to offer increased funding to cities with homeless shelters, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, disclosed that years ago he and then-Lt. Gov. Cox spent the night in a shelter to help better understand what people were going through.
"We didn’t tell anybody we were coming because we wanted the actual experience. We made sure we weren’t taking any beds," Gov. Cox told FOX 13 News on Tuesday. "No one knew who we were, and we spent an entire night and the next morning and we didn’t get much sleep. We spent most of the night just talking to people who were there. It was incredibly impactful."
The governor said it has helped shape some of his policy decisions surrounding homelessness issues.
"One thing it significantly influenced was the need for addiction recovery," he said. "The need for more mental health services for those who are struggling."
On Tuesday, the governor promoted legislation that expanded affordable housing options in the state. Some bills offer incentives to developers to build housing for lower-income earning people, or offering tax breaks to nonprofits that have supportive housing to get people off the streets.
"We’re going pretty big here in trying to address this affordable housing crisis here," said David Damschen, the CEO of the Utah Housing Corporation, which advocates for lower and moderate-income housing.
The governor also lent his support to a bill by Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, that offers $20,000 loans to first-time homebuyers.
"It has to be paid back when they sell the home or refinance. So it’s a loan," Sen. Adams said. "But it allows more people to get into that first home."
South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey said the housing legislation would help a number of Utah families.
"I have children who can benefit from some of these policies, who are at the age they would like to buy a house but can’t," she said. "I fit into that demographic of people who have this next generation ready to do that."
The governor also touted transportation legislation, including road planning bills and one that imposes a new tax at electric vehicle charging stations (designed to address declines in gas taxes that pay for roads where EVs were previously un-taxed). He also ceremonially signed a bill that not only expands outdoor recreation trails statewide, but also clears a pathway for delivery drones to be utilized in Utah.
