Tony Semerad, reporter/writer for the Trib, had a piece in the news yesterday about Gov. Cox speaking during an online chat held by the Washington-based J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, in which he touched on a number of growth and housing issues in Utah.

On the topic of short-term rentals:

Thousands of potentially affordable homes in Utah are being deployed instead as short-term rentals in a trend that is worsening the state’s housing shortage, according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. … Nearly 20,000 properties are now listed as short-term rentals in the Beehive State, “which is something we haven’t had before. … This is a new phenomenon,” Cox said. “We’re taking houses, and we’re turning them into hotels. … That’s housing stock that now isn’t being rented to families or available for purchase by first-time homeowners or others.”

The governor said much more on this issue, which is one that is on the list for study by the Legislature’s Political Subdivisions Interim Committee.  Committee member Rep. Calvin Musselman is reportedly taking the lead on this topic, which was the subject of two bills during the legislative session (neither passed).  See my April 14 blog post for more on this topic, which continues to grow.

Gov. Cox also commented on the state’s high growth rate and economic success, causing quality of life concerns among citizens.

The governor characterized Utah as a “victim of our own success” in the state’s latest housing crunch, with a soaring population, a strong, diversified economy, and lower taxes all fueling record growth and luring newcomers. But that also has spurred a 27% leap in home prices over just the past year after more than a decade of similar escalation and increases in rents, making housing what Cox called “one of our biggest challenges.”

It also has shifted residents’ once-favorable views on growth, with support dropping “precipitously,” Cox said, and residents now associating it with clogged traffic, expensive homes and a lower standards of living. He noted Utah now has among the worst residential real estate markets in the country in terms of prevailing income levels relative to housing costs.

“That’s a big concern to me,” Cox said, “and to everybody in the state.”

That also led him to talk about the impact of NIMBYism on community planning and accommodation of new growth, even to the point of saying the citizen referenda are hurting the ability to deal with growth effectively.

“…when a handful of people in a neighborhood can get something on a ballot and overturn something fairly easily, we may be a little bit out of balance there.”

He mentioned as well the recent legislative initiatives on planning topics:

Cox said the state was seeing success in its efforts to encourage cities to zone for added density along transit corridors by tying those moves to the state transportation funding those cities receive.

“We’ve had the state taking a bigger role,” said Cox, who also referred to a recently passed Utah law requiring cities to permit accessory dwellings such as basement and mother-in-law apartments to be added onto existing homes in most residential areas. “It’s still mostly local control, but with some of those exceptions that I think are important.”

As the Governor chairs the Unified Economic Opportunity Commission, which includes the Speaker and Senate President, this appears to be the lead entity talking about state growth issues, where we will likely see more actions coming from in the future.