When the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute says “housing deficit,” its data experts mean the gap between the number of renters earning a certain income and the number of places they could afford.
And when it comes to what’s “affordable,” Kem C. Gardner is using the age-old rule never to spend more than 30% of your income on rent.
For 1,674 tenants in Summit County, that’s not realistic. It’s also a conservative estimate of the housing deficit.
“This is a complex problem without an easy solution,” Summit County Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones said on the “Local News Hour” Oct. 21.
Click here to view the Kem C. Gardner Institute's Affordable Housing Dashboard.
There’s a surplus of rental units for those making 70% to 80% of Summit County’s median income, or around $100,000—that puts the current median income at $134,750.
So, just looking at everyone else in Summit County making $81,000 or less, the deficit is even greater—2,103 units.
It's unclear how many units of housing in the data set above are "deed-restricted," meaning explicitly reserved for lower income earners.
Jones has said that Kem C. Gardner's data may not be up-to-date. Its housing dashboard reports that Summit County has 570 units of deed-restricted housing, when in reality, he says Summit County has more than 1,100 units of deed-restricted housing.
What's not counted?
The roughly 15,000 workers who commute into Summit County every day are not counted in Kem C. Gardner’s housing deficit data. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 63.1% of Summit County employees live beyond the county line.
The deficit does not include currently entitled units that haven't been built. According to Summit County Councilmember Roger Armstrong, there are about 2,000 unbuilt residences. It's unclear how many would be considered affordable.
The housing deficit also doesn’t take into account growth projections. Summit County’s population fell the past two years, but regardless of what happens with raw population, jobs are expected to grow.
Jones projects more than 11,442 new jobs by 2034. Based on the average number of workers per household, 1.72, that would require at least 6,600 new households for those workers to be able to live in the County.
Before looking at the data at a retreat earlier this month, Summit County Council Chair Malena Stevens says the data alone can’t chart a path forward.
“Here's the deficit … here's the data, not to say, ‘This is what you have to do. This is what you should do.’ It's like, ‘Here's the data, so that you can inform your decision,’” she said.
And the council is beginning serious conversations about how many workers it wants to live in Summit County. Park City already set a goal in 2016 of building 800 affordable housing units over 10 years.
There are 1,095 existing or future affordable housing units in Summit County and another 959 in Park City.
Summit County’s natural beauty and resort offerings put labor in high demand while also driving up the cost of living. Of its nearly 27,000 housing units, Jones estimates 38% are vacant — meaning short-term rentals or second homes.
