Governor Cox speaks at opening of new affordable housing building in downtown Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A new housing development in Salt Lake City opened Thursday morning, and Governor Spencer Cox was there as a part of his goal to expand the availability of affordable housing for Utahns.

Arbor 515 is a new complex in downtown Salt Lake City, and it is one step in helping achieve Gov. Cox’s plan to expand attainable housing options.

“Only 9% of Utahn can afford to purchase a median priced home in Utah right now. Unsustainable. We can’t keep it that way,” Cox said at the event.

The new complex is a 14-story building with eight floors of affordable housing, non-profit office spaces, and even a Montessori early childhood school.

“There’s so much happening in this building that will be life changing,” Cox said.

“When this one came across my desk, it really stood out in its vision,” Salt Lake County Deputy Mayor of Regional Operations Catherine Kanter said.

The complex offers a new approach to housing in Utah as the first apartment building in the country to partner with Community Housing of Utah, helping residents stay financially stable.

“It is a way for people to start being able to build nest eggs, and kind of perhaps get themselves out of a cycle of renting,” Kanter added.

“Housing that makes building wealth possible, the stability of families possible, the ability for kids to stay in the same school throughout their childhood,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.

They’re doing this through what’s called the tenant welfare initiative, a voluntary program to help renters build financial stability, in part, by sharing a meaningful portion of the property’s earnings directly with tenants.

“Allowing people that truly in this day and age of Utah have no shot or maybe even a hope of owning a home, to have that be something that’s a real possibility for them,” Perpetual Housing Fund Director Chris Parker said.

Governor Cox said we can expect more housing options like this and hundreds of thousands of starter homes to be built from Ogden to Moab.