Barring any sudden reversals, the Park City and Summit County governments will begin creating one or more housing authorities soon.
The housing authority committee, made up of councilmembers and staff, briefed the rest of the city and county councils Tuesday on what it would take to create one, including a potential timeline to do so.
A housing authority can do many different things, from distributing housing vouchers to bringing in grant money to actually developing housing. Last time the Park City and Summit County councils met, the county’s Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones said housing authorities have a “menu” of options.
Tuesday’s meeting was about threshold questions: should the city and county develop a housing authority, and is the timeline realistic?
Councilmembers across the board answered yes.
County Councilmember Chris Robinson said he would wave a wand and make it happen sooner if he could. County Council Chair Roger Armstrong said the county proved it could act quickly when it established High Valley Transit as an independent bus service in 2021.
“Especially when our feet are held to the fire, we've been able to [act quickly],” Park City Councilmember Max Doilney said. “Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?”
Staff informed the councils their timeline was already “aggressive.”
Presuming the councils approve, the housing authority committee proposed developing a budget this year, interviewing housing commissioners early next year and launching in July 2024.
By the end of the meeting, there was consensus not to rush the staff through the planning process.
“I'm not comfortable saying that they can get [a housing authority] done quicker,” Doilney said. “And I don't want to hold their feet to the fire to not check every box along the way.”
And there’s still a lot for the housing authority committee to work out. For example, how many housing authorities would there be?
The city and county could create their own separate authorities that then collaborate. It might open up more grant opportunities and make it easier to collaborate with Wasatch County if it goes down the same road.
But Salt Lake City Housing Authority Executive Director Dan Nackerman, a consultant the committee is retaining, said separate authorities could increase competition locally for things like scarce Section 8 housing vouchers. He also said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development prefers working with larger, regional housing authorities.
On the budgeting side, County Councilmember Canice Harte, who sits on the housing authority committee, said it could cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million. The city and county would split the cost.
Many councilmembers liked the idea of a housing authority with a self-sustaining business plan. In effect, the government would be investing in a housing start-up.
As City Councilmember Becca Gerber noted, a housing authority can’t become self-sufficient overnight.
“And if we do a development project, we can capitalize on those, but you'd have to do a big enough project so that you're collecting additional rents,” Gerber said. “And that still takes a while to build a pot.”
Park City Affordable Housing Manager Jason Glidden said there are other ways for housing authorities to make money. Housing authorities charge administrative fees for distributing housing vouchers, for example.
The most reliable way for housing authorities to remain financially independent, however, is collecting rent.
Nackerman said most housing authorities don’t need to be subsidized by local governments forever.
“So on one hand, most housing authorities are barely breaking even,” Nackerman said. “On the other hand, they don't really rely on annual funding from general fund funding as an example, from cities and counties.”
Although councilmembers agreed to pursue a housing authority Tuesday, nothing is binding yet. The real commitment will come when, or if, the city and county decide to fund it.
