Hatcher 1

Jarron Hatcher

Professor Whittingham

English 2010

February 19 2023

Mayor Erin Mendenhall Working for Change

Utah currently sits in the #1 spot in terms of growing states in all of

the USA, and its capital, Salt Lake City is one of the fastest

growing in the entire nation. From July 2021 to July 2022 alone, Utah saw an increase of a little

more than 61,000 people, marking the biggest population spike in the state in over 16 years

(WILLIAMS). The reasons behind such an influx of people relocating to the beehive state isn’t

hard to understand either. Utah is an outdoor enthusiast's dream with its close proximity to some

of the best skiing, hiking, fishing, and mountain biking in the entire country. It also finds itself in

the middle of an absolutely booming tech industry. Led by Lehi, Utah which sits only 25 miles

outside of Salt Lake City and home to companies like SanDisk, Adobe, and eBay (Bartlett).

While a growing population is typically seen as a “positive” trend, it does bring about its

own new set of challenges because more people means there is a need for more housing, and

housing the people can actually afford. Salt Lake City has worked hard to keep up with demand

by building new homes and apartments, but a lot of these new buildings being constructed have

been left empty due to high rental prices. One of the loudest voices pushing for housing to be

more affordable is Erin Mendenhall.

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Erin Mendnehall currently serves as Salt Lake City’s 36th Mayor. Elected in 2020, She is

Salt Lake’s 3rd female Mayor and the youngest of the 3. The mother of 3, She assumed the role

following a 6 year stint serving in the Salt Lake City Council where she represented Salt Lake’s

5th district. Originally from a small town in Arizona, Mayor Mendenhall moved to Salt Lake

City with her family at the age of 7. After the passing of her father when she was only 13 due to

a long fight against Cancer, She went on to attend Alta High School and eventually attended the

University of Utah where she earned a Bachelor’s in Gender Studies and a Master’s in Science

and Technology (SLC.gov).

Since Mendenhall took office, She has worked to address many issues throughout the

region from air quality, homelessness, and road construction. One topic she has fought adamantly

about is the need for more affordable housing for residents. While on the City Council, She led a

$21 million initiative through the Redevelopment Agency to create public-private partnerships to

expand affordable housing. She also helped create an ongoing revenue stream to support the

Housing Trust Fund to get people into homes and keep them there. (Mendenhall)

In a recent summit with state and local leaders, Mayor Mendenhall discussed her beliefs

as to why this issue is so pressing and how even in her early life and current life through her

children, the worries of not having affordable housing. “Standing here today, as comfortable as I

am, as comfortable as my home is, I was born into a trailer park. Both my parents worked hard, I

lost my father to cancer, raised by a single mother from 13 on, I’ve been through a divorce, I can

name for you 3 solid times, that either as a family, or as a woman, that I needed affordable

housing, and without stable housing, and being able to go to school in a stable environment, I

don't know if i'd be here standing in front of you today. ” (Salt Lake City Television - SLCtv).

She continued on to say, “I have a 16 year old son at home. Brilliant, he’s older than me. He’s
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ambitious, academic, he’s motivated, and he looked me in the eyes and said “Mom, I don’t think

I’m going to be able to live here. I don’t think I’m going to be able to afford it.” and the way

things are looking right now, he’s right.”

Mayor Mendenhall’s administration has poured millions yearly into incentivising more

construction of affordable rentals through low-interest loans, discounts on land and grants to help

developers complete their housing projects (Semerad). One of the biggest plans put forward is a

package known as the “affordable housing overlay” which aims to boost the density of Salt Lake

neighborhoods with 3 possible methods to tackle the housing issue. The first being shared

housing, the package would expand where the city permits dorm-like buildings to be built where

tenants would rent small individual rooms while having shared common rooms like kitchens and

bathrooms. The next proposed change is off street parking which could lower rental costs due to

building developers using less building space for stalls. Lastly, the third change in the package

would be to build small, long and skinny homes. Believed to be much less expensive to build and

manage it would allow multiple homes to be built on the same amount of land an average single

family home currently takes up (Semerad). Mayor Mendenhall’s administration is also planning

in the next few months to unveil their newest 5-year housing program called “HousingSLC”

(SLC.gov).

While the issue of making more affordable housing is incredibly complex and there is no

easy solution as everything has pros and cons, it's nice to know SLC has a mayor who truly cares

about the well being of the city’s residents and is committed to trying to solve this ever

increasing challenge.
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Works Cited

Bartlett, Ian. “Why are so many people moving to Salt Lake City? 5 reasons Utah continues to

see rapid growth.” ABC4 Utah, 5 January 2022,

https://www.abc4.com/gtu/gtu-sponsor/why-are-so-many-people-moving-to-salt-lake-city

-5-reasons-utah-continues-to-see-growth/. Accessed 21 February 2023.

Mendenhall, Erin. “Meet Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.” Erin Mendenhall for Salt

Lake City, https://erinmendenhall.com/about-erin/. Accessed 21 February 2023.

Salt Lake City Television - SLCtv. “Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall addresses affordable

housing with state and local leaders.” YouTube, 12 January 2022,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ZJL2GRSyw. Accessed 21 February 2023.

Semerad, Tony. “SLC dusts off long-contemplated zoning changes in hopes of enticing more

affordable housing.” The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 September 2022,

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/09/22/shared-housing-reduced-parking/. Accessed 21

February 2023.

SLC.gov. “Erin Mendenhall | Mayor's Office.” SLC.gov,

https://www.slc.gov/mayor/staff/mayor-erin-mendenhall/. Accessed 21 February 2023.

WILLIAMS, CARTER. “Utah experiences largest population spike in 16 years. Here's where

people are moving.” KSL TV, 1 December 2022,

https://ksltv.com/513299/utah-experiences-largest-population-spike-in-16-years-heres-wh

ere-people-are-moving/. Accessed 21 February 2023.