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Salt Lake City Considers Expanding Housing Options

Salt Lake City Considers Expanding Housing Options

Salt Lake City is contemplating a proposal to allow additional dwelling units on up to two-thirds of residential lots.

Urbanize Team
March 03, 2026

📅 Today's Story: Salt Lake City is contemplating a proposal to allow additional dwelling units on residential lots, aiming to ease housing shortages by permitting various smaller homes on properties citywide, excluding the downtown core.

Salt Lake City Considers Expanding Housing Options

via Planetizen

📰 What Happened: Salt Lake City is reviewing a proposal to expand housing options by allowing backyard homes on single-family lots. This initiative could affect over 40,000 lots, enabling owners to add smaller homes, duplexes, and other dwellings without applying at City Hall, provided they meet certain conditions, like parking and access requirements.

🔍 A Closer Look: The proposal targets lots as small as 2,000 square feet, aiming to simplify zoning rules, such as setbacks and lot occupancy limits. While this could increase housing availability, about two-thirds of eligible properties face constraints that might prevent such developments. The strategy marks a departure from the city's focus on higher-density neighborhoods.

🧠 Why It Matters: With 86% of renting households unable to afford homeownership, this proposal could significantly impact housing affordability and availability. By enabling more construction, the plan seeks to address the city's housing crisis. However, the potential constraints highlight challenges in implementing such widespread zoning changes effectively.