- The state of Utah has acquired land for a new transformative homeless services campus.
- The new campus, placed on 15.85 acres of land, is designed to provide around 1,300 beds.
- The first operations of the homeless services campus are projected to begin in 2027.
The Utah Office of Homeless Services and the Utah Homeless Services Board announced Wednesday that a contractual agreement has been finalized to acquire land for a first-of-its-kind in Utah homeless services campus.
The comprehensive and transformative campus will be located on a 15.85-acre piece of land at 2520 N. 2200 West in Salt Lake City, according to a release from the Office of Homeless Services. The facility is located west of Rose Park, near the Salt Lake City International Airport, and is planned to provide approximately 1,300 beds.
“Our state has long needed more shelter beds and services, and this campus represents a critical step forward in supporting the most vulnerable people in our communities,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, per the release.
This new campus is meant to create a sustainable solution for addressing homelessness in Utah, officials say.
“Our objective is a human-centered approach with opportunities for people to get on a pathway out of homelessness and to thriving in their life,” said Wayne Niederhauser, state homeless coordinator.
What is the goal of this new homeless services campus?
This new campus is meant to be a place where individuals experiencing homelessness can access the support and treatment necessary to move from homelessness to stability to long-term self-reliance. It will also complement existing homeless resource centers, shelters and service providers across the state.
Individuals will be able to use the campus to find help with recovery, employment, criminal justice assistance and housing, all in a single location.
“We don’t want to just shelter people, we want to give them opportunities and help to find a transformational situation for themselves, whether it’s addiction, mental health, or other issues that people face,” Niederhauser said.
“We want to have those services on site. It’s important that they’re in the campus and on the campus so that people have less reason to leave the campus and more reason to stay on campus and receive those services,” he added.
The new facility is meant to act as a “hub and spoke” system “where individuals can Step In to access core services at a centralized hub, and once stabilized and ready to Step Up, they can Step Out to be connected efficiently to additional specialized resources across the community — the spokes,” according to the release.
This structure will reduce barriers to service access, increase operational efficiency and strengthen the network of support. It will also improve the accessibility and expand the capacity of the overall system, in turn enhancing the sustainability and effectiveness of Utah’s homelessness response, officials said.
There are other campuses that already exist around the country similar to the one Utah plans to build, and Niederhauser said the group looked at a few of them when planning Utah’s.
Niederhauser said that the Office of Homeless Services has been working for months to find a location that would work for this campus.
“It’s hard to find property that’s contiguous, that’s big enough to accommodate a campus, and the property that is available usually has some struggles, like a seismic issue or an environmental issue or a lot of wetlands issues,” he said.
Utah currently at record homelessness rates
The number of homeless Utahns in 2025 is at its highest level ever.
During the annual 2025 Point-in-Time Count conducted at the end of January, nearly 4,600 Utahns were recorded as homeless, as previously reported by the Deseret News. This is an 18% increase from 2024 and the largest number on record.
A lot of the growth in Utah’s homeless population came from the chronically homeless population — defined as those who have spent at least a year on the streets with a disability, mental illness or drug addiction.
Since 2024, the total number of Utahns experiencing chronic homelessness increased by 36%, from 906 to 1,233. The number of homeless children increased by 12%, from 589 to 662. And the number of homeless seniors over 64 increased by 42% from 251 to 356.
Last year, the state provided around 1,000 winter beds in shelters, and those beds were always full.
“We know that we have an unsheltered population that wants to be in shelters. And so we want to provide a place for people to go,” Niederhauser said.
As previously reported by the Deseret News, around two-thirds of the state’s homeless population lives in the Salt Lake City area.
What is the timeline for this new facility?
During the 2024 state legislative session, the Legislature appropriated $25 million to acquire land and construct this new homeless facility. The cost of construction will be around $75 million.
“We’re going to need more money to actually build and construct the campus. So the big objective now is to get the construction of the campus and the operations of the campus funded. That’s going to be essential to move forward,” Niederhauser said.
A feasibility study for the land has been completed and environmental studies are ongoing. The next steps include securing funding partnerships and continuing to engage with community stakeholders, state leaders and service providers to complete the development of the campus.
The goal is to begin construction next year and initial operations of the campus are expected to begin in 2027.
Those interested in the progress on and engaging with this new campus can sign up for updates at homelesscampus.utah.gov.