New Utah Foundation report points to ‘community opposition’ [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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Twenty-somethings aren’t leaving the nest. Full-time workers are doubling and tripling up in apartment rentals, and grandparents are lamenting kids who had to leave the state to start families of their own.

Utahns are struggling with the soaring cost of housing, and state and elected leaders are echoing their concerns.

So what, exactly, is holding up the construction of more affordable housing?

Some city officials fear that “community opposition” is now among the biggest obstacles, according to new survey results from the Utah Foundation.

About 78% of city leaders and staffers involved in housing policy, according to the new report, told the nonprofit think tank’s pollsters that they “strongly or somewhat” agree that municipal officials “who pursue affordable housing over resident concerns face political …