Listen up developers — Salt Lake City has millions in funds up for grabs for affordable housing projects and developments that offer a path toward home ownership.
The Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency announced Monday it has $14.4 million in funds available for affordable housing developments, according to a news release from the city. The city funds are available through a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), a competitive process through which developers and community organizations can apply.
That total includes $8 million available through the Housing Development Loan Program (HDLP), and $2.4 million of that is set aside for deeply affordable developments dedicated to housing people making at or below 30% AMI, the news release says. Beyond deeply affordable projects, priorities for HDLP projects include family-sized housing and mixed-use projects that support commercial development, the HDLP website says.
The remaining $6.4 million of CRA funds is part of the Residential Wealth Building Pilot Program, as those funds will be doled out to programs or developments that offer, “rent-to-own developments, shared-equity housing, community land trusts, and cooperative homeownership, with the goal of helping low- and moderate-income families build equity and create generational wealth,” the city news release says.
Both loan programs saw increased funding from the previous year, according to city documents. The HDLP’s budget was just over $5 million last year, while the wealth-building program, which started in 2024, had $3.25 million available in its inaugural year.
“These investments reflect our commitment to ensuring that everyone — regardless of income or background — can find a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall in the news release. “We know that housing is at the heart of economic opportunity, and by focusing not just on affordability but on wealth building, we’re helping more residents take the next step toward long-term stability.”
Applications for both programs are open until Dec. 4.
Wealth building units and deeply affordable units are two areas of Salt Lake City’s Housing SLC plan where the city is severely lacking. The plan, which was adopted in 2023, included certain goals for new housing units by June 2028. The city’s goals included 2,000 new affordable housing units; 2,000 deeply affordable units; and 1,000 wealth building units.
The latest data from Salt Lake City shows the city is well past its goal for affordable units, with over 5,000 units completed, under construction or planned between July 2023 and June 2028.
However, city data also shows only 439 deeply affordable units have been completed, under construction or planned in that same time frame. The data also shows 163 wealth building units are either under construction or being planned, as the dataset shows zero units have been delivered.
That latter figure will likely change soon, as the new Arbor 515 tower in Central City recently came online. The wealth-building model at the 14-floor tower is a new concept, as the majority of the tower’s annual cash flow would go back toward tenants instead of being pocketed by the owner. The project received just over $12 million in funding from the CRA.
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