Lambasting rent-happy landlords and Republican legislators hesitant to tackle Salt Lake City's housing shortage, advocates for the area's growing number of homeless pleaded for help Saturday.
"There are not enough resources to deal with this eviction crisis," said Steve Johnson of Utahns Against Hunger. "When we hand someone a sack of food now we know it's very likely that family won't have a place to cook it."Johnson and representatives of four other social service agencies staged a midmorning news conference in near-freezing weather in front of a vacant downtown apartment building to underscore their message.
When the Hollywood Apartments at 234 E. 100 South closed last summer for renovation, rents were in the $200 range, said Ivana Salazar, a housing advocate for the Salt Lake Community Action Program. When the building reopens, she said, the cheapest dwellings likely will go for $500 a month, well beyond the budget of the working poor and those on welfare.
"These are not transient people, not single people with mental illnesses. . . . We're dealing more and more with families with a father, mother and children," said the Rev. Peter Eaton, associate director of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Eaton said he couldn't resist noting the irony of homeless families in a state known for promoting family values, and like others on hand, said his church's food pantry has been overwhelmed with visitors begging for shelter.
"They come to us not because they don't have money, but because they don't have enough," said Eaton. "It is heartbreaking to have a young couple come to the church with their children in this disastrous situation."
Steve Scudder, director of the Baptist Concern Center in Glendale, said pleas for rent assistance have gone up steadily this winter. He said a single mother who approached the agency for help recently was approved by a landlord for a $300-per-month apartment, only to find out later the rent had been increased to $400 - a price she could not pay.
"I would like to say this client's situation was unusual, but it was not," said Scudder, adding that the cost of housing in Salt Lake City has far outpaced increases in personal income for most.
State Reps. Frank Pignanelli and Dave Jones, both from central Salt Lake City districts, said they are hopeful the Legislature before it ends its session Wednesday will take some action on a Pignanelli proposal to allow housing agencies more leeway in spending money for badly needed shelter. And a Pignanelli resolution before the house calls for a better state plan to provide affordable housing. Pignanelli, a Democrat, said such efforts often have been thwarted by the Legislature's GOP majority.
Salazar noted the waiting list for government-subsidized housing in Utah includes 16,000 families and said another 32,000 need assistance but don't qualify. She said some form of rent control is in order because housing demand has spurred many landlords to jack up rents almost monthly. Salazar said 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City has handled some 200 eviction cases each month this winter.
Jones, citing a 1 percent apartment vacancy rate in Salt Lake City, said this is the first year he has received calls from constituents forced out of homes because of rent increases. Pignanelli said Republican legislators from Utah County, often staunchly against state-funded housing assistance, will soon realize the problem is in their back yard too.
"They have their homeless now, their lack of housing, their food problems," he said.
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How to help
To provide shelter for the growing number of homeless, send donations to: Homeless Prevention, Salt Lake Community Action Program, 764 S. 200 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.