GACC LAND USE COMMITTEE

See Land Use Chair’s Letter to City Council on EHO below

November 1, 2026

Dear Council Members,

I strongly object to Enhanced Housing Options, as this proposal will not produce the desired effect of affordable family housing in Salt Lake City, and will increase costs and displace our most vulnerable citizens.

A single-family residential zoning holds land costs down by reserving properties from speculative investment development. EHO will change residential properties to development ready, increasing their price. Family buyers will have to compete with investment developers. Owner occupancy requirements may protect single-family structures but will be less effective in multiple family structures. The result will be cost escalation, gentrification, and displacement in our City’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, as has been reported in Durham, North Carolina. Enhanced Housing Options will increase land costs.

The proposal cannot change construction costs. Cost analysis based on readily available public data shows that small lot structures cannot be built affordable at today’s construction costs in most, if not all, areas. Even if a developer could build a small house that could be supported by 30% of AMI, they would be pricing above that level, since real estate is not sold on a cost-plus basis but always as what-the-market-will-bear. EHO will not result in affordability.

By-right development, once allowed, cannot be undone. The divisiveness of the current public debate should tell us all that there is no consensus on this issue, and it should be rejected until a better plan for the desirable goals of affordability and density increase can be properly constructed.

I thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Jim Jenkin
224 A Street,
Salt Lake City, Utah

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD