Investing in ‘Utah Home’
This week, we released our proposed fiscal year 2025 budget! This budget invests in so many of the elements that make Utah an exceptional place to live.
Housing
One of the biggest threats to our future success is the lack of affordable housing.
On Tuesday, we announced Utah First Homes, a comprehensive package of actions and incentives with the goal of building 35,000 new starter homes by 2028. This transformational investment includes:
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A new Housing Innovation Advisor – Steve Waldrip;
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$50 million to expand the First-time Homebuyers Assistance program;
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$75 million to expand the State Infrastructure Bank specifically for housing projects;
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$5 million into a new Housing Innovation and Construction Fund to incentivize innovations in how we plan, design, and construct new housing;
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$15 million to expand sweat equity programs;
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$5 million to support Community Land Trusts in the state; and
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Recruit an Off-site Housing Manufacturer to our state.
I’m passionate about building new starter homes for our children and grandchildren, and Utah First Homes can accomplish this.
Homelessness
Alleviating homelessness requires a comprehensive approach that addresses both short-term needs and incorporates long-term strategies. We’ve made tremendous progress over the past three years in better coordinating state and local efforts, but we must do more. Our administration identified several gaps in our current system, so we’re focused on filling those gaps by stabilizing emergency shelters, expanding behavioral health care, and prioritizing prevention. We are recommending $128 million to support our emergency shelter system, $8 million to enhance our behavioral health workforce, investments in affordable and deeply affordable housing, and more.
Families
Healthy families have been the key to our state’s success and we want to nurture and assist all families. We’re recommending $68.8 million in investments to support childcare and affordable and accessible health care, provide safety nets for vulnerable youth, and support new parents.
We’re also committed to continuing to protect our kids from the harms of social media and funding ongoing legal efforts.
Education, Workforce, and Service
Investments in our public education system benefit not only our children and our families, but the economy as a whole. In FY25, we’re recommending significant investments to better support rural students, strengthen the teaching profession, foster innovation, keep schools safe, and lay the foundation for future investments.
Utahns deserve quality education that prepares them for meaningful opportunities. The governor’s budget supports this with increased funding for the Utah System of Higher Education and targeted funding for specific workforce needs including life sciences, behavioral health, technical skills, and apprenticeships. We’re also investing $14.4 million to elevate service as a core cultural element in Utah.
Water
For the past two years, we’ve worked together and devoted more than $1 billion for water. Our prayers were answered last year with an above-average water year, but we need to continue to plan for a drier water future. This year we’re recommending another $81 million to improve our water and watershed management.
Transportation, Air Quality, and Recreation
As we grow, we need to provide Utahns with transportation choices so they can go where they want, when they want, in the way that they want— while improving our air quality. We’re recommending $122 million in transportation and air quality investments.
Access to recreation and open spaces enhances our quality of life. We are proactively maintaining and improving our recreational amenities, access, and open spaces, and are recommending $40.5 million to make that happen.
We’re so excited about Utah’s future and we look forward to working with our Legislature to fund these priorities. To see our full FY-24 budget recommendations, visit gopb.utah.gov.
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