Logan YIMBY

The Utah couple featured in this report had to leave Utah to find a home.

They are not alone.

First-time homebuyers face hurdles despite gradual improvement • Utah News Dispatch Home prices increased this year, though not as much as inflation, so affordability has risen in all regions compared with last year.

Build more housing and get paid to do it?

We’re Looking for a Policy & Research Associate

Do you care about housing, community development, and creating more opportunities for Utah families?

Wasatch Advocates for Livable Communities (WALC) is seeking a Policy & Research Associate (Contract) to support our work advancing housing, land use, transportation, and local governance policy throughout the Wasatch Region.

Working alongside our Policy Manager, this role will help research housing solutions, analyze policy proposals, support advocacy campaigns, and contribute to efforts that expand housing choices and strengthen communities across Utah.

Position Highlights:
• Remote contract position
• $25+/hour, depending on experience
• Flexible work environment
• Opportunity to work on housing policy during a pivotal time for Utah communities

We’re looking for someone who is curious, organized, a strong researcher and writer, and excited to help create more opportunity-rich communities throughout the Wasatch Region.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and three references to [email protected] with the subject line:

Policy & Research Associate – [Your Last Name]

Know someone who would be a great fit? Tag them below or share this opportunity with your network.

Every new home relieves pressure on the housing market.

And research shows that it helps the poorest most.

YIMBY Action talks about new research about moving chains in their latest podcast:

Moving Chains: How New Housing Creates Affordability | Infill: A YIMBY Podcast In this episode, YIMBY Law’s Sonja Trauss sits down with Alex Horowitz, Project Director of the Housing Policy Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts, to explore new research on how housing supply impacts affordability across American cities. The conversation examines the concept of “moving cha...

NPR has a great discussion of the ways real estate investors change housing affordability.

It might surprise you. Take a listen:

NPR's Planet Money 4 likes. "Corporate landlords aren't the real villain | The Indicator"

"...fully one-third of US households spent over 30 percent of their income on housing, and 16 percent of households spent *over half* of their income on housing in 2024. The number of cost-burdened households has been steadily rising in recent years, as the price of both homes and rentals has increased faster than incomes in most of the US."

Jeremy Horpedahl, The End of the Housing Affordability Crisis

Read the rest here at HumanProgress.org

https://humanprogress.org/the-end-of-the-housing-crisis/

Our Executive Director, Laura Foote, recently wrote an op-ed featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on why one provision in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act could detract from an otherwise HUGE federal pro-housing bill.

Banning build-to-rent homes won’t lower costs, it limits options and reduces the supply of homes available.

You can’t solve a housing shortage by building fewer homes. We need housing options for all kinds of people, from all kinds of sources to ensure that Americans can all access the homes they need.

"With Utah staring down a potential housing deficit of 235,000 homes over the next 30 years, researchers say the state could learn a thing or two from Austin, Texas."

What Utah could learn from Austin’s housing boom and falling rents Despite explosive growth, the capital city of Texas saw its median rent decrease over the past five years. A Pew analysis says Utah could learn some important lessons from them.

From the Foresight Institute's meme competition

🏘🏡♥️

SB 284 is headed to the Governor's desk 🎉

Homeowners across most of Utah will now have the right to build a detached backyard cottage (ADU) without jumping through zoning hoops to do it.

This is a win for property rights, a win for housing access, and a win for the simple idea that you should be able to use your own land the way you see fit.