If you or someone you know is experiencing or is at risk of experiencing homelessness, call: 801-990-9999.
Overview
System Roles
Homelessness is complicated and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. To address homelessness, partners with various levels of funding and responsibility must coordinate to ensure that the best outcomes are met. To learn more about the different partners and their roles in meeting the needs of our homeless residents, click on the accordion tabs below.
City
Addressing homelessness takes two things: housing and services.
While the County, State and service providers work in the services area, Salt Lake City’s main focus is on the creation of housing types needed for people who are homeless. This includes affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and even projects like The Other Side Village, which will be a first-of-its-kind in the state tiny home community.
The City invests millions of tax and grant dollars each year into projects like these because they are critical in mitigating or ending people’s homelessness.
Salt Lake City also provides funding to service providers within the system who do important work in outreach, case management, substance abuse and mental health services.
Salt Lake City prioritizes keeping the city safe and clean. Salt Lake City takes in concerns around homelessness throughout the city and works with partners to coordinate appropriate responses to those encampments, which can include outreach, rapid intervention, encampment impact interventions, resource fairs, and more.
County
Salt Lake County serves two major roles in response to homelessness – funding services and health department activity.
The county is a major funder of mental health, substance abuse and other homelessness services.
The Salt Lake County Health Department is charged with protecting public health, and enforces environmental health regulations with regard to on-street camping. Usually, what this looks like is a procedure called an Encampment Impact Mitigation (EIM). It requires people to pick up camp and move while all environmental risk factors at that camp are removed and cleaned. This can include human waste, discarded needles, or wet or soiled belongings, as well as abandoned belongings.
State
State Code Title 35A designates that the State is responsible for services for people experiencing homelessness throughout Utah.
In 2021, Governor Spencer Cox created a new position to oversee Utah’s statewide homeless services. Wayne Neiderhauser is Utah’s homeless services coordinator and in his capacity he leads the Office of Homeless Services within the state’s Department of Workforce Services.
In his role, Neiderhauser coordinates with cities throughout the state on homelessness response, which is dictated by the Utah Homelessness Council – a group appointed by the government to determine action.
Any funding for homeless services is provided through the legislature to counties in the state.
Federal
Several federal agencies are involved in the fight against homelessness. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the primary federal funder of services for people who are homeless, and their duties include funding emergency shelter, housing programs, and homelessness prevention, as well as gathering data on the scope of the issue through annual Point In Time counts and Housing Inventory counts. As is the case on the local level, though, fighting homelessness on the federal level requires coordination between many different agencies. The US Interagency Council on Homelessness organizes federal policy efforts to prevent and end homelessness across the country.
Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness
The Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness is the state designated planning entity for homelessness in the Salt Lake Valley. Their role is to identify local needs and coordinate with the state on the resources needed to address those needs.
The coalition is made up of government entities, service providers, advocates, and people with lived experience. The Coalition helps coordinate the development of new services provided for people experiencing homelessness, whether that is new shelter, overflow shelter, or other programs to end homelessness in our community. The Coalition is supported by staff at Salt Lake County.
Providers
Providers play a critical role by delivering services to the homeless population in shelter, through permanent supportive housing, rehab, mental healthcare, and through on-street outreach.
Strategy
Since Salt Lake City is not the designated planning entity for homelessness, the City relies upon and supports the strategy and efforts of the entities that receive state and federal funding for homelessness mitigation.
Strategic Plans
The State Homelessness Council and the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness (SLVCEH) have adopted strategic plans to address homelessness in their respective areas of responsibility. These plans are supported by Salt Lake City and focus on increasing housing supply, increasing and improving supportive treatment services, and increasing emergency shelter capacity.
You can read the plans in full at the following links:
Legislation
State code 35A-16-501 requires that Salt Lake County bring together a task force of cities to work in partnership with the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness to plan and enact a winter overflow program between the months of October and April each year. The Coalition determines the number of beds needed based on the best available data on shelter utilization from previous winter overflow programs. The participating cities must then work together to determine a location to host those beds. More information on this year’s Winter Overflow plan can be found here.