Nation’s Largest Public Outreach shows Utahns want a variety of housing and transportation options they can afford
Envision Utah’s Your Utah, Your Future findings show residents want to save money on housing and driving.
SALT LAKE CITY (Aug. 27, 2015) — Findings from nearly 53,000 residents surveyed as part of Envision Utah’s Your Utah, Your Future campaign indicate that Utahns want to change the way their communities are built. They want a mix of housing types — ranging from single-family homes on a variety of lot sizes to townhomes and apartments — and they want communities with greater transportation options, believing these changes to housing and transportation will help them save money and improve the quality of life for more residents.
“Utahns want options,” said Ari Bruening, Envision Utah’s Chief Operating Officer. “They want their communities to allow a mix of housing types that match the market, and they want choices in how to get around. This saves them money. It also improves opportunities for low-income Utahns and decreases air pollution and water use, along with a host of other benefits.”
The typical Utah family spends 29 percent of their income to own and use two cars, making transportation one of the largest expenses, second only to the cost of their home. By increasing options for both transportation and housing, Utahns hope more residents will be able to have decent housing available to them, helping to end the cycle of poverty in the state and improving the safety of neighborhoods. Survey respondents felt that lower costs will give more people the ability to work less, save more money and spend additional time with family or improving themselves.
To achieve this outcome, Utahns are willing to have a greater variety of housing types in their own communities. In fact, survey respondents said creating that variety is more important than ensuring we have neighborhoods full only of single-family homes. Utahns also want to build additional mixed-use centers where residents can work, shop and recreate all within a short distance of their homes. They also want to prevent agricultural land from being developed into urban housing.
“When regulations, like zoning ordinances, limit housing options, you start to see an effect on affordability,” Bruening said. “It can limit where people with lower incomes — like teachers, firefighters, or young families — can live, and that has an effect on the opportunities they and their children enjoy.”
Housing and cost of living ranked fifth most important among issues the state faces behind jobs and economy, air quality, water and education.
Envision Utah is a non-profit public-private partnership dedicated to bringing Utahns together to find broadly-supported ways to maintain a high quality of life. Envision Utah’s Your Utah, Your Future campaign became the nation’s largest public outreach effort, gathering nearly 53,000 Utah voices and opinions through a two month online survey that was cross-checked with a Dan Jones random sample survey. The study identified eleven key issues: agriculture, air quality, recreation, disaster resilience, public lands, transportation and communities, housing and cost of living, education, energy, jobs and economy and water. For more information, visit http://envisionutah.org/.
