Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Salt Lake City's "Thriving in Place" project aims to tackle gentrification and displacement
Urban Living
Posted By Babs De Lay on October 11, 2023, 4:00 AM
You might have heard the term "thriving in place" as of late when it comes to Salt Lake City. What does it mean and how does it impact you and I?
If you want to do some deep diving, skip ahead and go to thrivinginplaceslc.org and you can get the 411 on how the City Council and citizens are attempting to analyze and understand gentrification and displacement in various neighborhoods. The goal is to create a plan of action, like many other cities in the country experiencing similar housing affordability issues are attempting to do as well.
City officials worked in phases. The first phase included learning from constituents about their experiences of gentrification and displacement, documenting community assets such as cultural resources and special places, and identifying people, groups and organizations that contribute to the area. Phase two involved taking the data and working up priorities and potential actions for addressing things like displacement, and creating long-term solutions that can help residents and communities remain in place.
What has been learned thus far? The obvious: when growth happens and new development doesn't keep pace with demand, housing prices go up and renters and home buyers can't afford to live where they had called home. Buildings are torn down, and large apartment complexes go up in their place with rents double or triple what lessees had been paying before.
When people are forced to move out of their neighborhoods, the result can be cultural displacement. Lower income households are often people of color and immigrants, and when developers bring in new homes, its mostly white people who can afford to rent or buy. Small businesses like salons and bodegas disappear and multi-national corporations move in, like Starbucks.
The studies here so far have found displacement in SLC is significant and getting worse, and that there are no longer any "affordable" neighborhoods where lower income families can move once displaced. There are still not enough housing units overall, especially those geared for low-income families. Over half of our renter households are spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
The City is learning that there are no magic fixes, no matter what the mayor touts in her re-election speeches. There are plans to learn from cities like Portland, Oregon, which operates a Rental Services Office that provides training for landlords and tenants to help with resources. Salt Lake City could have our own type of center by 2024.
To advance the priority of helping lower income renters build equity, the city is considering a partnership with Utah's Perpetual Housing Fund and has proposed investing $10 million to help capitalize their work in support of renters. I encourage readers to at least go to the Thriving in Place website and read the 69-page report of what's happened and what's planned because this affects all of us in the city and state.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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