Last week, we had an amazing experience at the 2nd Annual ULI Utah Housing Summit. Over 250 attendees from both the public and private sectors joined us at the Union Event Center for the opportunity to network and learn about some of the innovative solutions and opportunities to overcome the housing challenges we are facing in our state.

This year’s theme was “Unlocking Attainable Housing – Opportunities for Impact”, and we had a robust line-up of speakers who delivered ideas, tools, and opportunities that attendees could use to continue their efforts toward building more affordable and attainable housing. The presentations focused on the ties between housing stability and community health outcomes, financing structures that support affordability in housing projects, strategies for addressing homelessness in Utah, and how the Perpetual Housing Fund is providing ownership opportunities to low-income households.

Our keynote speaker, Joe Minicozzi, was fantastic and demonstrated how we can use local data to gain a powerful understanding of our fiscal health and plan for a healthy economic future. He also illustrated the important role that local tax systems play in planning, zoning, placemaking, and capital improvement planning.

We wrapped up the day with lightning-round presentations, which highlighted opportunities for developers to maximize energy incentives with the Inflation Reduction Act, tips on utilizing public-private partnerships to maximize community and economic benefit of development projects, and the opportunities and constraints within design that impact housing attainability. Overall, it was a fantastic event, and we’re already looking forward to next year’s summit!

See the full agenda here.