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Letter: Utah needs more water and affordable housing, not more people

SHARE Letter: Utah needs more water and affordable housing, not more people
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Kier Construction continues work on Central Station, a development by Gardner Batt, at 549 W. 200 South in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. The 65-unit affordable apartment community will have studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments.

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

We have two silent crises pending in Utah. Our political leaders and the business community talk glowingly about our growth, but no one talks about the fact that growth requires water. Where are we going to get the water to continue the growth? We constantly hear the weather people telling us that our precipitation is below normal. Perhaps this is the new normal, so what are the plans for our future water needs? Maybe our government water planners have this under control, but I don’t hear anything about it.

The second problem is a low income housing crisis. This is going to manifest itself shortly when the no-eviction mandate runs out. Apartments are going up all over the Wasatch Front. They are supposed to be low-income housing, but they are unaffordable for most low-income people. Somebody in government has to encourage the construction of truly affordable apartments if they don’t want the streets flooded with a new wave of homelessness.

Jim Ivie

Bountiful