Green River is building more homes [Video]

This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.

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Janet Smoak wanted the job. Yet when she got the offer to become executive director of the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River in 2022, she wasn’t sure if she could accept.

Smoak lived in Washington state and wasn’t in a position to buy a house, but renting wasn’t a solution, either. The problem wasn’t that she couldn’t afford the rental options — it was that there were none.

“This is the first community I’ve lived in, where when they say, ‘There is nothing to rent,’ that’s what they mean,” Smoak said. “There’s literally nothing on the market at any price.”

Green River’s population is a little under 1,000, according to the 2020 census,but there are a total of only 437 …