April 04, 2022 (NewsBreak) - …According to a new report from the Utah Foundation, Utah’s middle class is 54% of the state’s population, compared to 47% for the United States. The closest states are Wyoming and Idaho, where the middle class is 52% of the population…
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March 30, 2022 (Deseret News) - By Jay Evensen Nationally, the trend is clear. States that tend to vote Republican have less of a tax burden than states that vote Democratic. Except, that is, for a small handful of red states, and Utah is one of them. Utah, according to a new study, has the 15th highest tax burden in the nation. It’s got the third highest among Republican-leaning states, right behind Iowa (13th) and Kansas (14th). This is not a top-20 … Continued
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March 29, 2022 (Deseret News) - The nation’s middle class has gradually been shrinking. Fifty years ago, more than 60% of Americans were in the middle class. Now the percentage is less than 50%. It’s worth noting that the upper class grew during that time. But so did the lower class. In short, our nation is becoming increasingly stratified. This is particularly evident when we look at America’s major cities and the urban-rural divide. A robust middle class provides a pipeline … Continued
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March 24, 2022 (Utah Policy) - Today, the Utah Foundation releases the fifth report in its Utah Social Capital Series with The Soil of Common Ground: Social Cohesion in Utah. This installment focuses on social cohesion; the previous installments focused on civic engagement, social trust, community life and family life. The Soil of Common Ground presents data and analysis in three areas: economic stratification, language and the extent to which the population is homegrown. It looks at Utah’s performance on these measures over … Continued
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March 24, 2022 (Salt Lake Tribune) - The Tribune recently published a commentary by Utah Foundation president Peter Reichard in support of rezoning areas currently zoned for single-family housing to allow for building up to four-family units in an “overlay zone.” The Salt Lake City Planning Commission has also published an “Affordable Housing Incentives” document. Two different parties talking about the same issue? A realtor from a neighborhood targeted in the document verified that the average sales price there for a single-family … Continued
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March 24, 2022 (KSL News Radio) - The proportion of Utah’s population that could be considered middle class is over 50% and growing. And a new report from the non-profit Utah Foundation said it’s the highest in the country, well above the national average and even the second-place state, Wyoming. The report defines middle class as a household income between two-thirds and double the state’s median income. The report by the Foundation is the latest in a series of studies on the … Continued
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March 24, 2022 (KNRS) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, joins the program to discuss the group’s latest study on social cohesion in Utah.
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March 24, 2022 (KSL.com) - The proportion of Utah’s population that could be considered middle class is over 50% and growing. The latest report from the Utah Foundation shows Utah has the highest percentage — 54% — of middle-class citizens of any state in the country, well above the national average, even outperforming neighboring Wyoming and Idaho, both of which have 52% of the population in the middle class. “The nation’s middle class has gradually been shrinking, and some American … Continued
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March 23, 2022 (Fox 13) - The middle class made up the majority of the American economy a generation ago. Today, that’s changed, but Utah has bucked the trend consistently, according to a new report from the Utah Foundation. The Utah foundation report considers a strong middle class important for social cohesion. The idea is a society of haves and have-nots with few people in between is a recipe for trouble. Utah Foundation President Peter Reichard says a majority of Utahns … Continued
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March 08, 2022 (The Daily Chronicle) - Amid a housing crisis and on the last day of the legislative session, Utah legislators managed to pass a bill aimed to increase the state’s affordable housing. Homeowners and renters have been priced out of their homes. More than half of Utah’s households are “unable to afford the state’s median-priced home.” On Feb. 17, over 100 people were displaced from a homeless camp on the west side of Salt Lake City. Officials cited 45 new … Continued
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March 02, 2022 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Scanning the older cities of Utah (or indeed any state) you encounter in the historic core a mix of lot sizes and uses. You might see small setbacks and often find single-family homes alongside small multi-family housing. Often, these areas appear designed for pedestrian commuting, shopping and recreation. As you move away from the historic core into the suburbs, the old patterns dissolve into a new one: All of the residential lots are larger and … Continued
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February 28, 2022 (Park Record) - A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing. But middle housing has a big problem: Zoning in most residential areas doesn’t allow it, the Deseret News reported. That’s the big takeaway from a new report from the Utah Foundation, which challenges the wisdom of the prevailing 20th-century zoning practices that … Continued
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February 26, 2022 (Town Lift) - A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing. But middle housing has a big problem: Zoning in most residential areas doesn’t allow it, the Deseret News reported. That’s the big takeaway from a new report from the Utah Foundation, which challenges the wisdom of the prevailing 20th-century zoning practices that … Continued
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February 26, 2022 (US News and World Report) - A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing. That’s the big takeaway from a new report from the Utah Foundation, which challenges the wisdom of the prevailing 20th-century zoning practices that separate commercial and residential areas while catering to automobile-oriented development, making the case that zoning laws, predominantly under the … Continued
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February 24, 2022 (Deseret News) - Confucius may have put it most succinctly in observing that “the strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” Family is the basic building block of society. To the extent that families are stable, the larger civilization benefits from greater social stability. To the extent that family connections are strong, the members of that family will tend to enjoy stronger social capital and related socioeconomic benefits. Strong family health is inextricably linked … Continued
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February 22, 2022 (KSL) - SALT LAKE CITY — A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing. But middle housing has a big problem: Zoning in most residential areas doesn’t allow it. That’s the big takeaway from a new report from the Utah Foundation, which challenges the wisdom of the prevailing 20th-century zoning practices that … Continued
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February 21, 2022 (Deseret News) - A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing. But middle housing has a big problem: Zoning in most residential areas doesn’t allow it. That’s the big takeaway from a new report from the Utah Foundation, which challenges the wisdom of the prevailing 20th-century zoning practices that separate commercial and residential … Continued
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February 18, 2022 (KUER) - Utah is in a housing crunch. One priority state legislative leaders laid out at the beginning of the 2022 general session was affordable housing. Now, they’ve got a few things in play to address that. KUER politics reporter and State Street co-host Emily Means joined host Caroline Ballard to go through what’s on the table for affordable housing. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Caroline Ballard: I know people who are looking … Continued
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February 16, 2022 (Utah Policy) - Today, the Utah Foundation releases the fourth report in its Utah Social Capital Series with The Comforts of Home: Family Life in Utah. This installment focuses on family; the previous installments focused on civic engagement, social trust and community life. The Comforts of Home presents data and analysis on seven metrics: the share of adults aged 35 to 64 currently married; share of births to married women; the share of children living in a single-parent family; the share … Continued
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February 09, 2022 (Rod Arquette Show) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, joins the show for a conversation about the latest piece in the foundation’s series of reports on “middle housing” in the state. Listen here (starting at 1:31:50):
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February 01, 2022 (Salt Lake Tribune) - … Average rents, too, continue to see unprecedented double-digit hikes year over year, rising by as much as 50% over the past two years in some pockets along the Wasatch Front, researchers with the nonprofit Utah Foundation have found. Those rises in rent are happening despite a boom in apartment construction. …
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January 27, 2022 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Those struggling to get developments done often use the acronym NIMBY – not in my backyard – to describe opponents of their plans. While it may serve as a useful shorthand for neighborhood opposition to projects for the common good, in many cases it may also be unfair. Most Americans’ wealth is tied up in their home, a home that they often choose because of the quality of life the neighborhood offers. To routinely throw … Continued
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January 18, 2022 (NewsBreak) - According to a recent analysis from the Utah Foundation, an independent research organization, 72 percent of respondents said that “style is the most significant element in their home choices.” What’s that look like? You’ve guessed it, single-family detached dwellings. According to the foundation report, 45,000 people in Utah are missing out on the country’s hottest housing market because of rising costs caused by the redevelopment of old properties. Despite the obviousness of this, the report … Continued
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January 17, 2022 (KSL.com) - When it comes to middle housing, you’ve got to have style. A recent report from the Utah Foundation, an independent research group, shows that 72% of respondents say “style is the most important factor in their housing preferences.” And the style is? You guessed it, single-family detached units, extra points if the garage is not visible. While Utahns’ preference for single-family homes seems like a statement of the obvious, the report also fleshes out a … Continued
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January 17, 2022 (Deseret News) - When it comes to middle housing, you’ve got to have style. So says the latest report from the Utah Foundation, an independent research group, that shows in new surveys that 72% of respondents say “style is the most important factor in their housing preferences.” And the style is? You guessed it, single-family detached units, extra points if the garage is not visible. While Utahns’ preference for single-family homes seems like a statement of the obvious, … Continued
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