Analysis from the Kem Gardner Policy Institute shows that housing prices have been increasing 9.2 times faster than wages and that about 20 percent of Utah families with below median incomes are paying over half their income on housing. This puts too many Utah families one financial mishap away from becoming homeless.
In parts of the state with high levels of population and economic growth this problem is much worse. Data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that between 2006 and 2106 the number of low income households in the Salt Lake City metro area increased by 4,387, but the number of housing units low-income families can afford decreased by 9,093 units.