The ranks of Utahns worried about affordable housing have grown dramatically since 2015 and conditions appear to be the worst for renters living in Salt Lake County, according to a new study.
The nonprofit Utah Foundation reports that of 20 measures in its yearly Community Quality of Life Index, public perceptions on housing affordability have seen the largest declines in recent years.
In 2015, nearly 16 percent of the state’s population labeled the availability of quality affordable housing in Utah as “poor,” the foundation said. That share rose to 28 percent in 2018.
Statewide, about 12 percent of respondents to Utah Foundation surveys said their personal housing costs were not affordable this year. That number hovered between 7 percent and 8 percent in Utah, Weber and Davis counties, and at 6 percent for Utah’s rural counties.
