SALT LAKE CITY — Today, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed nine new bills to make housing in the state more affordable for younger residents looking to buy their first home. This move comes after years of efforts by Utah lawmakers to address the state's housing issues.
Governor Cox has set a goal for Utah: build 35,000 new starter homes in the next five years.
"I have talked with just about every governor in this country on this issue. We are all dealing with this issue," said Gov. Cox.
A challenge highlighted was the difficulty home builders in Utah face in financing their projects, according to Steve Waldrip, Senior Advisor on Housing Affordability and Innovation.
"A third of the members of the home builders of Utah could not get financing to create those projects," said Waldrip.
This has led to a significant decrease in the number of homes being built, dropping from 37,000 in 2021 to 19,000 in 2023.
Among the new laws is HB 572, which has received particular praise from Governor Cox as "perhaps my favorite bill of the session." This law will use $300 million from the state's treasury, usually invested in growth funds out of state, for lower-cost loans to Utah developers building starter homes.
"Now we get to take some of that money and invest it here, in our builders, in our families, in our homes," said Gov. Cox.
Sponsor and Representative Jim Dunnigan believes HB 13 is another key law enacted to give developers cheaper access to financing for infrastructure projects, which is a major cost in housing development.
"I've already had developers reach out with me that have 1,000’s of entitled building lots," said Rep. Dunningan. "That said we think this is a tool we're going to use."
One of the conditions of HB 572 is that 60% of the homes built with the provided loans must be starter homes, priced at $350,000 or less and not larger than 1,400 square feet.
With the bills now signed, Utah looks ahead to impacts on the housing market's affordability. As Governor Cox noted, "This is huge. Nobody else in the country is doing this," expressing optimism about Utah's unique approach to tackling the housing affordability issue.
