The current rental market is pricing people out who are ending up on the streets. Downtown Salt Lake City homeless camp at 700 West 200 South: Kevin and Brooke are trying to stay hydrated and cool despite the 105-degree record-breaking heat. Both were gainfully employed when they found themselves priced out of the housing market, unable to get into affordable … [Read more...]
The Magnolia Apartments: The new Homes for the Homeless are a “Complete Failure” According to an Inside Source
An inside source provides Utah Stories with an inside look into the reality of the Magnolia Apartments. Salt Lake City, along with the organization Shelter the Homeless, have been working to build “permanent supportive housing units for the chronically homeless”. The Housing First Model is an excellent idea in its basic theory: give temporary homes to the homeless first so … [Read more...]
Why “Deeply Affordable” Housing Is Not Being Built in Utah and it Won’t be Built Anytime Soon
Utah’s last state legislative session allocated just $70 million toward deeply affordable housing, despite the state coffers containing a $2 billion state surplus. The affordable housing crisis is likely the most important problem younger and low-income Utahns are facing because today a growing percentage of low-income residents are priced out of the housing and rental market … [Read more...]
Maud’s Café Serves More Than Coffee
Sheela's Story Sheela* left home at age eighteen. She describes herself as having been a good kid. She was an A-student, went to church, and did what her parents expected of her. In high school, Sheela became the target of a sexual predator. “He was someone I knew and trusted,” Sheela confides. “He groomed me for a long time. I didn't realize how abusive of a situation I … [Read more...]
How Drug Addiction and Homelessness are Intertwined
When someone is faced with addiction, they often can’t control the fate of their living situation as most, if not all, of their focus is solely on obtaining and using drugs they have become dependent on. When this happens, people with substance use disorders can sometimes find themselves homeless and living on the streets. The connection between addiction and homelessness is … [Read more...]
Inside Heroin Addiction and Homelessness in Salt Lake City
If a lighthouse were planted on Lookout Peak above Salt Lake City, you could trace the lambency of its beacon in a southwestern direction down the mountainside, across the polished spires of the Mormon temple, through the glass façade of Vivint Arena, and finally into the Block, where the light would disperse and settle like falling snow. The Block is the gathering place for … [Read more...]