Op-ed: Reimagining solutions to the housing affordability crisis

Housing costs in Salt Lake City have exploded during the last few years, leaving households struggling to make ends meet and locking renters out of ownership opportunities. Families are finding it difficult to live in the city as prices go up and apartments get smaller. For-sale properties are out of reach for most households. And while there is construction everywhere, everything being built seems to be luxury, leaving us all wondering who the new housing is for.

Meanwhile, the State legislature sits on a budget surplus of over $1 billion and is considering allowing landlords to discriminate based on source of income, essentially putting more people out on the streets. Even significant increases in housing spending at the state and city levels are doing little, if anything, to make life easier for those of us who rent.

This is because housing is not a human right in Utah or Salt Lake City. Housing is not seen as a basic need. Instead, many of us are guilty of seeing housing as a good investment. We hope to buy when the market is favorable, and then we want our property values to go up. We want to maximize our home equity so that when we retire or we need to send a kid to college, we have a nest egg.

But the problem is not individuals seeking to improve their lives through growing equity. After all, in the US, home ownership is the safest investment that we have – if we have access to it. We lack public pensions, and education and healthcare costs are astronomical. Finding ways to lessen the pressure is something we all try to do.

No, the problem is not those of us trying to make ends meet and prepare for our future. The problem is that our housing system sees housing as an investment first and a place to live second. Developers, who are the ones that build the housing, aren’t trying to house people. They are trying to make money. And when they need to make a profit, they either have to cut production costs or charge more for the finished product. Or both.

This all means that a private developer will never build housing that doesn’t bring in a financial return on investment. Since all housing costs about the same to build per square foot, private developers can only set rents so low before the project starts to cut into their desired returns or lose money. In short, the private market cannot build affordable housing on its own. It needs subsidies. The more affordable a place is, the more subsidy it requires.

Some argue that once enough housing is built, the market will correct itself and prices will go down. But when was the last time you saw rent go down and stay down? The private market will not build itself out of profit. That would be a bad business move. The private market will not overbuild housing. To add to that, housing is a need, not a want, so people will move to where housing and jobs are – paying more than they can afford just to have a roof over their head.

If private development won’t solve the housing crisis, who will? We have to look elsewhere in the world where solutions have been found. We have to look to different models. We have to look to social housing.

Social housing, as we define it, is housing that is: publicly owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income, and where residents have a voice. Let’s go through these.

Public ownership means that the housing is owned by the people. It is housing that has been removed from the speculative market forever. The primary goal of public ownership is to house people, not make money.

Permanently affordable means that rent is not set by the market or an algorithm. Rent is set by the cost to build or purchase, maintain, and operate a building. Rent is also based on the incomes of residents, so no one will pay more than 30% of their income toward rent. Rents are stabilized and will not jump 10% each year. And the rent will always stay affordable.

Mixed-income communities are communities that thrive. When people from different backgrounds mix and mingle, everyone benefits. Mixed-income communities reverse the decades of segregation that have kept certain people out of opportunity. Social housing is available to everyone, from the lowest incomes to the high incomes. We all deserve affordable rent, and rent is matched to income.

Resident leadership means that residents have decision-making power over the places where they live. From advisory boards to building associations, residents have a say in what happens. Residents are less likely to evict themselves or increase their own rent. When residents have a say in the governance and management of their buildings, the renter-landlord power imbalance is corrected.

In a state where cities cannot adopt rent control ordinances, we can control rent by controlling the housing. If the public owns the housing, the public gets to make the rules. That means no more 10% rent increases.

In a state where cities have little authority over eviction law, we can control eviction practices by controlling the housing. And when residents have a say in the buildings where they live, they can choose not to evict their neighbors. When the public owns the housing, the public can set policies to be more forgiving. No more three-day pay-or-vacate notices.

In a city where most of the housing being built is studios or one-bedroom apartments, we can build larger, family-sized housing. When we are in control of the housing, we can make it what we want: sized for families, accessible to all people, sustainable.

Social housing is not a new concept. It has been practiced in various places throughout the world for over a century. And it is catching on in the U.S. as well. Seattle recently passed a social housing ballot initiative. California recently passed social housing legislation. Montgomery County, Maryland has a public developer for social housing. Other cities and states are trying to make social housing a reality.

Salt Lake City should be a national leader in the push for social housing. At SLC Housing 4 All, we are working to make that happen. We are fighting to make housing a human right. We invite you to join us in making SLC a more affordable place to live. Learn more at www.slchousing4all.org.

Danielle Stevens is a renter in Salt Lake City, the Executive Director of People's Legal Aid, and a founding member of SLC Housing 4 All.