Salt Lake City needs more housing options. Here's why we're fighting for this one.

Right now, 77% of Salt Lake City's residentially zoned land allows exactly one thing: large single-family homes on large lots. That's a big reason home prices keep climbing while young families, teachers, and essential workers get priced out of the neighborhoods they serve — and why our schools keep losing kids to more affordable cities.

How we got here

In December 2024, WALC filed our own zoning proposal, Starter Homes SLC, to cut through the rules blocking smaller, more attainable homes: oversized minimum lot sizes, excessive setbacks, and bans on attached housing types left over from 1990s-era zoning. In early 2025, Salt Lake City released its own plan with many of the same goals — Expanding Housing Options (EHO) — plus several additional reforms WALC strongly supports. Rather than run two competing campaigns, we withdrew Starter Homes SLC and put our full support behind strengthening EHO.

What we're pushing for

• Smaller minimum lot sizes, so land costs don't price first-time buyers out

• Reforms to flag lot and subdivision rules that support gradual infill

• Sensible setbacks and lot coverage rules that don't quietly kill small projects before they start

• Reduced parking mandates near transit

• More housing types — duplexes, attached single-family homes, and other small-scale options — welcomed in neighborhoods that currently allow only one kind of house

The evidence is on our side

Houston, Durham, Portland, and Seattle have all made similar changes and seen more homes built, more families able to buy in, and stronger local tax bases — all without bulldozing what makes their neighborhoods special. Many of Salt Lake City's own most-loved neighborhoods were built exactly this way, one small addition at a time, before restrictive 1990s-era zoning made it illegal. Expanding Housing Options is our chance to reopen that door.

Resources & Ways to Take Action

Read the Expanding Housing Options FAQ

Read WALC's Letter to the Planning Commission (March 10, 2026)

Read WALC's Follow-Up Letter (May 4, 2026)

 Ways to Support as an Individual:

• Sign the petition (below) and connect with your Planning Commissioner and City Councilmember.
  
  
• Email the Planning Commission and your City Councilmember to express your support.

Ways to Support as an Organization:

• Sign onto our organizational letter and show your organization's support for these changes.