Like the president himself, Donald Trump’s new top homelessness official has proved a polarizing figure, earning both ardent supporters and passionate detractors nationwide and in Utah, where he once worked as a consultant with the Pioneer Park Coalition.
Robert Marbut’s backers locally see him as a “smart, smart guy” who has improved the lives of millions of people during a career devoted to addressing homelessness “in a way that seeks to alleviate rather than perpetuate” the community’s struggles, as the coalition put it in a newsletter last month.
But several homeless service providers in the state see Marbut differently.