A Utah House committee punted on two bills that its sponsor believes would help address the state’s ongoing housing shortage, despite support from the governor’s office.
The bills, HB 88 and HB 90, were presented to the Utah House Political Subdivisions Committee in a hearing Friday afternoon, but neither received a vote, likely sending the bills to the morgue as the 45-day legislative session barrels forward.
HB 88 would permit detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential zones of urban municipalities. HB 90 would allow single family homes to be built on lots of 6,000 square feet — a smaller footprint than what many cities require for new homes to be built on.
The sponsor of both bills — Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful — presented the legislation and illustrated how both could be effective tools to not only create more housing, but to do so in efficient ways. He said housing has become increasingly less attainable, and he thinks the state has the ability to make an impact.
“In my opinion, if we want to slow the rise of the average cost of homes, there’s no other solution than to allow the building of more homes, the building of smaller homes, and, as land becomes more expensive, to allow more homes to build on smaller pieces of land,” Ward told the committee.
Ward successfully sponsored legislation several years ago that prevented cities from blocking ADUs built within homes, a move that had led to hundreds of new housing units being built.
HB 88 was an attempt to expand on that success by allowing property owners to add ADUs within detached structures like garages or on their own and separate from primary residences.
HB 90 targeted Utah cities that have used zoning to drive up the cost of housing by requiring homes to be built on more land than the market might accept. Many Utah towns allow homes on 6,000-square-foot lots, but only in relatively small parts of town, if any at all.
Even Salt Lake City has neighborhoods where the minimum lot size is 7,000 square feet or 12,000 square feet.
Steve Waldrip, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s senior advisor for housing strategy, sat alongside Ward and offered his support for HB 88. He said Utah continues to fall behind in its goals for creating more housing. He told the committee that just last year, Utah fell behind another 5,000 to 7,000 units, saying, “We don’t have enough places for people to live.”
One of the main groups opposing the bill is the Utah League of Cities and Towns, which had representatives speak against both bills.
Cameron Diehl, the organization’s executive director, testified against HB 88, arguing the bill would preempt local land authority. He worried this type of legislation would be an overstep, and he said these types of decisions should be made by cities.
“There are multiple bills coming before this body this session that we’ve been working on for months to try to address housing affordability, but do it in a way that respects the role of local government, (and) respects that each neighborhood and each community is unique,” Diehl said.
Draper Mayor Troy Walker, who also serves as the president for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, spoke against both bills. When speaking against HB 90, Walker said that when he moved to Draper, he bought a house on a half-acre lot. Since then, he said, “all we’ve done is get smaller.”
Walker argued that cities like Draper don’t need state mandates on lot sizes, saying he believes cities like his — where the average home price is $771,589, 49 percent higher than the state, according to Zillow — have done enough to help Utah’s housing crisis.
“We are meeting the demand as cities,” Walker said. “What we don’t want is mandates. We don’t want preemption. We want to do our job, be partners, not be preempted.”
For years, Utah has failed to accommodate its growing population, as its housing shortfall has continued to skyrocket. An October presentation to the state estimated Utah needs 153,000 new housing units by 2030, and as of now, it’s highly unlikely the state will meet that goal.
Neither of Ward’s bills received a committee vote, as committee members opted to move on to other items on the agenda. Ward said before the hearing that such a move would effectively kill the bills for this session.
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