Salt Lake County Councilwoman Laurie Stringham says she’s learned just how difficult the county’s housing situation has become through the experiences her children have gone through as they’ve grown.
“My oldest daughter and her husband just moved out of Salt Lake County because rent kept going up and up and up and up,” she said.
They found a place to remain within the Wasatch Front, but not having them closer to home was still a shock. That’s why she — as well as state and city leaders — hope that a new affordable housing complex tucked alongside the I-15 and I-80 interchange in Salt Lake City will help make it easier for residents to remain in the area.
Developers, local government officials, and state housing officials gathered outside of Alta Vue Apartments, 820 W. 200 South, on Thursday to celebrate the addition of 218 affordable housing units after several years of planning.
Each unit is dedicated to residents earning 60% to 80% of the area’s median income, and comes with an in-unit washer and dryer and walk-in closets. The complex also comes with some of the key features many other new apartments feature, such as secured motor vehicle and bicycle parking, as well as a fitness facility, dog park, outdoor courtyard and clubhouse.
It also features space that can be used for child care, making it the latest project that seeks to provide more options for residents.
“Alta Vue shows how thoughtful partnership can redefine what affordable housing looks like,” said April Pond, employee relations leader for Cornerstone Residential, the property management company for the complex.
The project cost approximately $36.3 million, according to KeyBank, which served as the construction lender; however, it received support from a combination of sources.
Salt Lake City directed $695,000 toward the project, but the bulk of funding came after the Utah Housing Corporation authorized the issuance of sale of multifamily housing revenue bonds up to $30 million in 2021 to help finance the project with the help of several other entities.
“This is just a really great example of how private and public partnerships can come together,” said Jennifer Schumann, private activity bond manager for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
Salt Lake City got involved because there’s a massive need for affordable housing, but the project’s location is near a fast-growing part of the city just west of downtown, said Salt Lake City Council Chairman Chris Wharton. It’s one of many recent builds or projects under construction in a fast-growing section of the city, between North Temple and I-80 in the northern edge of Poplar Grove.
“This is going to be a place for people who are the backbone for our city — teachers, first responders (and) restaurant workers, and this is giving them the ability to live and work in the same city. ... It’s hard not to build and grow and not price people out, and this is an exception to that,” he told KSL.com, adding that the goal is to add much-needed housing without displacing west side residents.
Rents range from $1,111 per month for a one-bedroom unit to $1,593 for a two-bedroom unit for one-person households making $51,540 to $68,750, as of 2025. The area median income threshold increases with every person in a household, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The average rent for similarly sized apartments in the city ranges from $1,275 per month to $1,700 per month, according to Zillow.
Salt Lake City plans to keep investing in affordable housing, as a statewide housing shortage continues, Wharton said. The city has directed over $140 million in funding for affordable housing in the city for buildings that have been completed since 2015 or are anticipated to be completed by 2030, per city data.
He hopes that leads to more projects like Alta Vue.
“It’s not something that one project or one slate of projects is going to solve,” he said. “It really does take more cooperation (and) more investment from multiple levels of government and the private sector if we’re going to get out of this.”