WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — West Valley City has updated its Moderate Income Housing Plan to align with state requirements, focusing on strategies to increase affordable housing options in the community.
"We have our moderate income housing plan, so that plan is actually required by the state. We select those strategies that are most applicable in our city, and then not only do we have to choose those strategies, we have to implement those strategies," said Steve Pastorik, Community Development Director for West Valley City.
The city council approved updates to the plan Tuesday night, incorporating state code housing strategies.
One key approach involves rezoning properties to allow for higher density housing in strategic locations.
"Considering re-zones to allow for certain properties to allow for more density in certain locations," Pastorik said.
A recent example of this strategy is the former Redwood Drive-in, which was sold last year after 65 years of operation as a theater and swap meet destination. Despite protests from supporters against the closure, the city approved rezoning the property for residential development.
"That was a commercial use where the owner wanted to sell it for residential, and so the city reasoned that to allow for a mix of townhomes and condos," Pastorik said.
The housing challenge extends throughout Salt Lake County, according to Sahil Oberoi, Chief Operating Officer at Utah Community Action, an organization that helps Utahns experiencing poverty.
"To give you a volume in scale of need, we get over 1,200 applications a month for rental assistance, but based on the funding we have, we can only help about 120, so that's 10%," Oberoi said.
Another strategy in West Valley City's updated plan focuses on rehabilitating existing buildings to preserve affordable housing options.
"Listing affordable housing in the city that sometimes is at risk of just kind of falling into disrepair or being converted to something else, so the city has programs that are addressed in our plan that help to keep that housing in the supply," Pastorik said.
These updates are part of a housing plan that residents will see implemented over the next several years, with a focus on increasing overall housing supply.
"Way of addressing affordable housing is by providing more supply, so by rezoning for additional housing, that increases the supply," Pastorik said.
Oberoi agrees with the approach: "I think whatever we can do to expand zoning and whatever we can do to incentivize more affordable housing units, that's definitely needed here in our community."
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