Affordable Housing Construction and
Preservation Dashboard
Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency are invested in sustaining and growing affordable housing in our city. For the purpose of this dashboard, both Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency will be referred to as the “City”. The following information details the City’s investments to support the construction and preservation of affordable housing units.
The City also supports individual residents through rental assistance, home rehabilitation programs, and foreclosure prevention. To see the City’s support to individual residents, visit the Housing Stability Dashboard.
The City invests in many different programs supporting housing development and rehabilitation projects that provide a range of benefits for residents. Those benefits can include affordability levels, unit size, building for a specific population with a housing need, creating new public amenities, or housing types. When the City provides funds for a project, it requires a partner to sign a contract or provide some proof to ensure make sure the required community benefits will be met before funds are dispersed.
This section contains definitions for terms used in the report:
AMI (Area Median Income)
This measure is what the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses to standardize housing affordability. For Salt Lake City, Area Median Income is calculated by the median household income for Salt Lake County with projections for the future based on inflation and trends. HUD uses AMI to calculate income limits for potential residents of affordable units, for which the rent is set at no more than 30% of the residents’ income.
Deed Restriction
This is the most common tool to maintain the affordability of units for residents making a certain percentage of the area median income. The units are restricted via a document recorded against the property so that combined housing costs (rent or mortgage), utilities, and other housing costs are no more than 30% of the residents’ income. This restriction is monitored over the term of the agreement, which is typically 30 to 50 years.
Neighborhood Plan Area
The city makes plans for defined neighborhood areas to help sustain and enhance the neighborhood into the future.
Wealth Building Units
Units in which the resident can build equity in the unit or overall project value. This could be a for sale unit, or a shared equity unit (Defined below).
Shared Equity
In a shared equity rental unit, the resident gets a share of the building’s equity with the other tenants and the owners. In a shared equity for sale unit, the prospective resident enters into an agreement to help fund programs for affordable homeownership, in exchange for a more affordable sales price.
Loan Funding
The City loans money to partners to help create or rehabilitate housing. Loans are repaid with interest to the City.
Land sale/Discount
Properties owned by the City may be used for affordable housing. This land might be sold at a discount to a partner, the sale price may be deferred to be paid back with interest over a loan term by a partner, or the City may retain ownership and lease land to the partner.
Fee Waiver
Fees associated with the creation or rehabilitation of housing can be waived for the partner depending on the housing affordability offered in their project.
Tax Rebates
In Community Reinvestment Agency project areas partners can receive reimbursements for their property’s tax increase over a set term through tax increment reimbursement agreements.
Grants
The city may allocate funds directly from the city budget, or pass on federal funding that is designated for grants.