SALT LAKE CITY — States and the federal government share a vital economic relationship. This data summary, the tenth in a series on state and federal economic linkages from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, presents the Utah-federal government nexus for federal housing assistance.
“Federal housing assistance provides, in many cases, the only housing assistance for very low-income renters,” said Jim Wood, Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at the Gardner Institute. “For the first time since the Section 8 voucher and low-income tax credit programs were established, over 40 years ago, the programs face a serious threat of reduced federal funding. Federal housing programs provide an economic lifeline for thousands of low-income Utah renters and are the most effective programs preventing homelessness.”
Key findings from the summary include the following:
Size and Composition – Two programs provided 90% of the federal funding: the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) ($286.7 million) and HUD and USDA rental assistance through vouchers ($160.5 million). The remaining $35.4 million includes Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) funds for housing, HUD Trust Fund allocation, funding for Continuum of Care (CofC), Emergency Shelter Grants, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), for a total of $482.6 million in housing assistance in FY2022.
Tax Credits – The $286.7 million in tax credit assistance supported the development of 1,977 affordable rental units, and the $160.5 million in voucher funding provided rental assistance to 22,766 low-income renter households.
Location (Tax Credits) – From 1987 through 2024, 613 apartment projects received tax credits. Twenty-five of Utah’s 29 counties have at least one tax credit project. By 2024, Salt Lake County had a total of 19,841 tax credit units, which is over half of the tax credit units in the state.
Vouchers – The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is the most extensive federal rental assistance program. Housing Choice Vouchers provided rental assistance to 11,097 low-income
Utah renters in 2022. In addition to the housing choice vouchers, HUD, through various other vouchers, provided an additional 3,448 renters with subsidies.
Location (Vouchers) - Nearly half of the 12,541 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in Utah are administered by the two Public Housing Authorities in Salt Lake County: Housing Connect (formerly The Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake) and the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City.
The complete data summary is available online.
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