Strategies for
Housing AND Cost of Living

Key Strategies

  • Provide a variety of neighborhoods Utahns can choose from, while allowing the housing market to supply a variety of housing options in all communities.
  • Develop an interconnected pattern of mixed-use neighborhood, village, town, and urban centers that bring destinations and opportunities closer to people.
  • Decrease household travel costs by making public transportation, walking, and biking more convenient.

This vision, created by Utahns, for Utahns, establishes a clear context, framework, and direction for policy discussions and actions to achieve the future Utahns want. Although government will play an important role, Utahns recognize that achieving the vision will also require a concerted, cooperative effort by individuals, families, businesses, and other organizations in the private sector.

Strategies

1. Provide a variety of neighborhoods Utahns can choose from, while allowing the housing market to adequately supply a variety of housing options in all communities.

  1. Streamline regulation of housing development and construction to avoid undue costs or delays.
  2. Structure zoning to allow a sufficient supply of a full variety of housing types, while mitigating impacts to existing neighborhoods.
  3. Otherwise ensure that regulation does not hinder developers from providing an adequate supply of housing to meet market demand.
  4. Provide opportunities for subsidized housing in each community so that those who can’t afford market-rate housing can still find a decent place to live.

2. Build mixed-use centers throughout urban and suburban areas that include places of employment, compact housing, shopping, civic uses (schools, churches, etc.), and recreation.

  1. Provide a variety of centers, including neighborhood, village, town, and urban centers.
    1. Neighborhood centers might include a park, a school, and/or a church within walking distance of homes.
      Neighborhood_Center3.jpg
    2. Village centers might include local shopping (e.g., a grocery store), small-scale employment, compact housing, and local-serving development (e.g., 9th and 9th in Salt Lake City; SodaRow in Daybreak).
      Village_Center5.jpg
    3. Town centers might include regional shopping (e.g., home improvement or department stores), employment, higher education, compact housing, and other development (e.g, Sugar House).
      Town_Center3.jpg
    4. Urban centers may serve as downtowns (e.g., Ogden or Salt Lake City), with significant employment, shopping centers, multistory housing, etc.
      Urban_Center3.jpg
  2. Design new communities to be centered around neighborhood, village, and town centers.
  3. Remove barriers to and encourage the development of mixed-use centers within existing communities, particularly in older, underutilized commercial areas.
  4. Design mixed-use centers to make walking and biking convenient.
  5. Locate centers around existing high-frequency public transportation where feasible, and plan new routes to and from centers.

3. Design a balanced transportation system that makes travel in communities convenient with or without a car.

  1. Create an interconnected network of streets that disperses traffic and increases the convenience of traveling by foot or bicycle.
    connected_streets_for_web.jpg
  2. Expand the public transportation system (bus, rail, etc.) to improve coverage, frequency, access, and convenience.
  3. Continue to improve and expand roads.
  4. Locate places of employment, schools, and healthcare facilities near public transportation.
  5. Improve infrastructure for walking and biking (sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, etc.), particularly near public transportation stations.
  6. Design streets, where appropriate, to accommodate bicycles, pedestrians, and public transportation, as well as automobiles.
  7. Design buildings to improve access for bicycles and pedestrians by locating entrances near the street and placing parking where it does not impede pedestrian access.

4. Provide easily accessible recreation areas in all communities.

  1. Develop additional recreational facilities to accommodate increasing demand and to avoid overcrowded facilities.
  2. Expand trail networks to connect parks and communities.
  3. Design and enhance trails so people can conveniently use them to travel either to their destinations or to public transportation.
  4. Cooperatively plan trail networks at community and regional scales before population growth occurs.
  5. Work with federal, state, and local entities to provide mechanisms to fund the building and maintenance of parks, bike lanes, paths, and trails.