On Mar. 11 elected officials from city and town governments in Sevier County, along with mortgage lenders, commercial real estate developers, residential developers, planning commissions, and planners presented their perspective on the current housing conditions in the county.

A lack of affordable housing, along with a lack of housing overall, were two of the topics discussed along with being more prepared for commercial businesses. One individual compared the current housing market to the toilet paper frenzy of 2020, with the high demand leading to high prices.

From Nov. of 2019 to Nov. of 2020 the average sales price of homes in the county jumped from $155,072 to $283,643, an increase of 82.9%. This price rise was attributed to less homes being for sale as more and more people have been moving away from cities to come to smaller communities causing a 61% decrease in the number of homes for sale.

A lack of rental properties was also discussed as officials shared that apartments in Richfield are being rented out before they are even finished being built. The Mayor of Salina shared his frustration stating that there are currently no houses listed for sale or for rent in the city.

It was shared by multiple people at the summit that this lack of housing means that businesses are less likely to build in the county as there would be no place for their employees to live. It was also discussed that with the current price of homes in the area that many of those people would not be able to afford those houses even if they were available.

Of the solutions discussed a big focus was on zoning and planning ahead. It was shared by multiple city planners that companies are more likely to come and build if there is already an area zoned for what they want to build that already has infrastructure in place. They also shared the need to have diversity in those zones and that they should be spread out throughout the area with apartment buildings, town homes, and duplexes spread throughout the county and its neighborhoods.

Another solution discussed was to designate areas to have smaller building lots. It was discussed that not everyone needs, wants or can afford a large house on half an acre of land and that more young families may move into the area if there were more “starter homes.” Along with the younger families, retired couples sometimes prefer to have a smaller house with less property to maintain.

A multitude of housing and development programs available for rural Utah were discussed including:

• Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund (OWHLF) a statewide housing program that has housing programs ranging from multi family to single family
• U.S. Department of Agriculture – Rural Development (USDA-RD) that offers a myriad of housing programs ranging from single family to multi family
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) a state-wide incentive program to encourage construction or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing for low-income tenants
• Housing Assistance Council (HAC) which makes short-term loans at below market interest rates to local nonprofits, for profits and government entities  developing affordable housing for low-income, rural residents

Another topic of discussion was how to continue to develop without loosing the quality of life we currently have in the county. The answer for that is not concrete and will have to be considered with each new development project going forward.