SALT LAKE CITY — Officials are working on a State Homeless Campus to help unsheltered people get back on their feet, they announced on Wednesday.
The proposed facility would create a nearly 16-acre “comprehensive hub,” aimed at housing about 1,300 people experiencing homelessness.
The Utah Office of Homeless Services said the campus would have beds and wraparound services, with medical, mental health, recovery and job support.
The property is located at 2520 N 2200 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84116. The state is still in a contractual agreement and has not yet formally purchased the land.
But people who live in that area said they didn't even know this was coming till they saw news reports about it this afternoon.
"Around 2 o'clock, my cousin sends me a news article that comes out with all this stuff,” said Nicole Green. Generations of her family have lived and grown up there, and it’s where she’s raising her daughter, too. “It’s just aggravating.”
The evening the announcement was made, a community meeting was held at the Day-Riverside Library for neighbors to voice their concerns about the project to officials.
"There's no security out there,” said Green in the meeting. “Are you guys going to make sure they don’t come into our properties? We all go outside at night to check on our animals, that’s just not an option anymore?"
Emotions were high at a packed community meeting. People were even standing to listen and share their support.
People said they were blindsided that the state decided to construct a homeless shelter, quite literally in their backyard. "If I knew that this was coming, we would not have built such a beautiful barn a year ago,” said one resident whose home is right next to the property.
The main concerns were around security for the homes nearby, and that their property values would diminish.
State and city leaders listened to concerns, acknowledging that people were kept out of the loop.
"Whether you’re a residential neighbor or a business neighbor, something really big happened and you didn’t get a public comment,” said Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro. “And for those of us that live on the west side, that's something that happens all the time."
Another big question was why this spot, when there are no resources close by, and no public transportation is accessible either.
Unsheltered Utah said they are grateful the state is looking for ways to help those in need, but they share this concern too.
"When this campus feels like a little bit of a banishment perhaps, that doesn’t enable those community connections,” said Executive Director of Unsheltered Utah, Merinda Cutler. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t foster those connections, but I think we need to be really intentional as we build out the plan for the campus and we need to allocate funding.”
State Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser was also at the meeting and stressed that safety is a key priority for them. They also hope to increase police patrolling and have shuttles to transport people to where they need to go.
Officials said they do hope to host more community dialogues and conversations in the future. The project is anticipated to open in 2027.
