Today could prove to be most interesting in the arc of actions on housing affordability (and zoning reform? – using that term broadly) that get teed up for next year’s legislative session.  That’s for two reasons.

First, at yesterday’s League Legislative Policy Committee meeting, League Executive Director Cam Diehl told about how he and a few others were invited to meet with Governor Cox last Friday to discuss housing affordability – more specifically, starter homes.

You may recall recent statements by Gov. Cox in which he called out local governments on the issue of housing affordability, and said that this was going to be his top issue for the next year (see the Oct. 18 and Oct. 20 blog posts).  Friday’s meeting was apparently the Governor’s move to start making it so.

Cam Diehl explained that the Governor said he’s focusing on how to increase the availability of “starter homes”(not defined!),  that his goal to achieve this would be akin to a “moonshot,” alluding to the all-out effort in the 1960’s to land a manned mission on the moon.  To that end, he said that:

• Cities must plan for them
• Developers must build them
• The State must provide strategic goals and fund needed infrastructure

He emphasized that “everyone will have to stretch” to make this happen.

Second, today at 3:30 pm, the Legislative Audit Subcommittee will release a report titled:

               A Performance Audit of Utah Housing Policy: A Case for Statewide Strategic Planning and Accountability

Those who have seen the report, while sworn to secrecy until it is released today at 3:30, indicate that it will likely change the entire approach to addressing housing affordability at both the state and local government levels.  This is just me, but I’m surmising that it may mean a much more top-down approach, rather than the generally collaborative way that state and local officials have been pursuing this over the last couple of years.

We’ll know better by tonight.  Watch this space for updates.