SALT LAKE CITY — Some of Utah’s most vulnerable might have a roof over their heads this winter.
A temporary shelter community has gone up in downtown Salt Lake City in the empty lot near the UTA hub at 600 West and 300 South.
This pilot program, a collaboration between the city, the state and the county, will give temporary housing to 50 unsheltered people through small pods. The site downtown is on land owned by Salt Lake City, but the program is being run by the state Office of Homeless Services.
Each pod has doors that lock, beds, heating, air conditioning and outlets. The site will have bathrooms, meals, garbage pickup and personalized treatment for individuals staying there.
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Alejandro Puy, Salt Lake City Council member representing District 2, has been talking about this project for two years and visited Denver, Colorado and toured similar sites. They were a great success there, he said.
“We don't want people to die in the winter, right? That's a big deal,” said Puy. “We don't want people to die. We are trying to do our best to bring those resources. This is cheaper than building a house, as you might imagine, but it's still a lot of questions with this. The struggles that we live in this society these days are hard, and hard to solve very quickly. So this is a temporary solution.”
Puy still has a lot of questions; the state is taking the lead on homelessness, so they will be picking a provider to control access to the site.
There is no clear opening date, but Puy hopes with it getting cold, people will be able to get in there within the next couple of weeks.
