Salt Lake City is searching for a suitable site to build a sanctioned campsite for the homeless before winter — one capable of housing between 30 and 50 people on between 1 and 2 acres.
The site would be for a pilot project, the first phase of something that might be expanded if it proves effective. Such a camp likely would include a shower, toilet and a place for people to safely store their things. In contrast to makeshift campsites, it would be secure, with limited access.
Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall said Wednesday the city is working on a specific request for proposals that would then be issued by the state.
Meanwhile, the state’s homeless coordinator, Wayne Niederhauser, said Wednesday that Utah now has a long-term strategy, agreed upon by mayors and other leaders statewide, for successfully helping homeless people into housing and the services they need.
The only thing lacking is sufficient funding.
Both leaders spoke to members of the Deseret News/KSL editorial board. They said the new strategy to help the homeless would provide short-term needs on the street as well as curb long-term homelessness.
Mendenhall called it, “The first thoroughly inclusive bed-for-everyone option that I think we’ve seen since pandemic funding ended.”
In 2020, the Deseret News went to Austin, Texas, to explore solutions to on-street camping, including sanctioned tent cities and a tiny home village. At the time, Mendenhall was supportive of a tiny home community — which is now becoming a reality in west-side Salt Lake City, named The Other Side Village — but she was reluctant to entertain the concept of a sanctioned camping area, calling it a “genie” that can’t be “put back in the bottle,” and one that doesn’t give the homeless population the “dignity” and services they need to get out of homelessness.
Since then, the sanctioned camp in Austin that the Deseret News visited, called Esperanza Community, has been working on becoming a “transformational shelter complex,” with 200 individual shelter units to help house residents in more permanent structures that protect them from Texas heat and weather, according to its website. And Mendenhall and state officials have worked to craft multiple solutions under a single, comprehensive strategy.
Niederhauser said he’s visited Esperanza twice, and its moves toward air-conditioned “micro shelters” with personal storage and away from tents to address some of the many “complaints” about congregate shelters. “So this actually is now a model that I see working across the country,” he said. “It’s amazing what’s going on there.”
Last fall, the idea of a sanctioned campsite was also championed by the Pioneer Park Coalition, a group of downtown business owners.
Jim Behunin, the executive director of that group, said at the time that such a camp would help people get on a path to “healing and self-sufficiency.” People could choose between a shelter or a sanctioned camp “where we will provide a shower and a toilet and safety, a place to store your things” and someone to help “move down that path of self-sufficiency.”
Mendenhall expressed support for it on Wednesday, along with greater resources for providing supportive housing for the homeless, including a community of small houses that is projected to be ready early next year.
Homelessness is a big issue in this year’s mayoral race, which pits Mendenhall against former mayor Rocky Anderson and Michael Valentine, a community activist.
Two months ago, the state released its annual data report on homelessness, which showed a 96% increase in people experiencing chronic homelessness since 2019 and a 10% jump, year over year, to 8,637 people experiencing homelessness for the first time. Also, people who have experienced homelessness and accessed services multiple times increased by 5% during the year.
The 2023 Point in Time Count, in which homeless people are counted during a single night in January each year, also documented an increase, finding that 10.9 out of every 10,000 Utahns were homeless that night, compared with 9.6 in 2020. The count is administered annually under the direction of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
On the positive side, the state’s data report also showed Utah is making progress toward providing deeply affordable housing. That was aided by two legislative grants, for $55 million and $50 million to help with affordable housing.
Niederhauser said there are more people staying longer in the three homeless resource centers in Salt Lake County “because we don’t have what is needed on the other side of that, which is housing and support services.”
He cited an estimate by the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness that the county needs about 3,000 more deeply affordable housing units, at a cost estimated three years ago at $250,000 per unit. Statewide, about 4,500 units are needed.
Despite the high initial outlay, Mendenhall said construction of those units would save money over time, as the associated costs of a person living on the street is more than the cost of sheltering that person for a year. The mayor cited the example of a tiny home community in northern Nevada called Hope Springs. Its website says it costs taxpayers $35,578 per year for the state to provide services to one unhoused person, but only $14,683 to provide for one resident of Hope Springs.
Niederhauser and Mendenhall both said the homeless cannot be effectively treated for problems such as mental health issues, substance abuse, behavioral issues and other problems unless they have stable housing.
Mendenhall stressed that she believes the county’s current homeless services are working. “Almost 94% of the chronically unsheltered people who get into permanent supportive housing stay,” she said. “For most people, it works. And for most people who touch the homeless services system in Salt Lake County, it works very well.”
She said 70% of those who came through a homeless resource center in 2022 successfully entered stable housing within 90 days. The others, she acknowledged, have more challenging health or behavior problems.
Niederhauser said he hopes to have 600 more units in place to handle the coming winter’s demands. Last year, the largest demand was for about 500 people seeking shelter on a single night.