What will the real estate market in Summit County look like in ten years?
It’s a complex question with a nebulous answer, dependent on the national economy, future developments and the Wasatch Back’s reputation as a tourist destination. But most locals, especially those with generational roots in the area, continue to sound the alarm: living in Summit County is becoming increasingly more unaffordable.
The Summit County Council created the Summit County Housing Authority late last year in response and established a goal to bring 1,500 affordable housing units to the area by 2035.
The Housing Authority, which assists low- and moderate-income families in addition to combating housing affordability issues in general, has only been operating with a full board of commissioners for about six months, but the group has already hit the ground running in terms of future planning and brainstorming new initiatives, according to Executive Director Maddy McDonough.
McDonough, who previously worked as a county planner, said she and her board members have been drafting a plan outlining the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. It involves combining the County Council’s 1,500-unit goal with other potential forms of relief for Summit County renters and hopeful homeowners, as well as improving community education on affordable housing.
“We’re also trying to build an understanding of how affordable housing is important to communities in general, not just those who are living in the units,” McDonough explained. “It helps to be able to build an actual, cohesive community where folks are able to live and work in the same place, as opposed to having to commute in.”
McDonough said one of the board’s top priorities is to diversify its income instead of relying solely on the Summit County government for funding.
The Housing Authority is already discussing partnerships with nonprofits along the Wasatch Back in addition to exploring grant opportunities. However, most affordable housing grants serve very specific populations, McDonough said, which means the Housing Authority will need to be cognizant of Summit County’s demographics to target the appropriate grants.
The Summit County Housing Authority likely won’t receive federal funding, though. McDonough specifically said federal assistance is “very much up in the air” under the Trump administration, and the Housing Authority will continue to ask the Summit County Council for support during its budgeting process.
“The other thing that we can look into as a board … is if we want there to be some sort of nonprofit arm, and that could be partnering with an existing nonprofit or creating our own to be able to take in things like donations from outside businesses,” McDonough added. “For the immediate future, we’re going to be focusing on getting funding from the county moving forward, utilizing leverage with our existing partnerships, so when new units are brought online, if there’s an opportunity for us to own the unit or own the land and be able to bring in revenue through rent or reselling, we’ll do that.”
The strategic plan so far is broken down into three phases.
Phase one, which is dated June 2025 to June 2027, includes the search for outside funding, the launch of a public awareness campaign and a complete inventory of public land. Once the public lands have been inventoried, then the Housing Authority will rank which sites would be best for new units based on their proximity to schools, grocery stores, healthcare facilities and other services.
Phase two is through June 2030. It encompasses solidifying funding sources, “including state and federal level grants and private investment,” and expanding pilot programs the Housing Authority hopes to debut in phase one, such as incentivizing accessory dwelling units, vouchers and down payment assistance programs.
By the time the Housing Authority reaches phase three, which starts in the summer of 2030 and ends in June 2035, the organization’s operations should be fleshed out and allow the board to focus generally on continuing the work already underway.
“It is certainly playing the long game, and I think a lot of our community members were hopeful initially that we would be able to offer a lot of these federal programs, like housing choice vouchers, which is the new name for Section 8 housing, but it doesn’t seem as though those programs are going to be expanding at all at a federal level,” McDonough said. “In fact, it’s being predicted that many of those programs they’re funding will be cut … but that’s why we’re attempting to supplement them with a more locally-focused version of those programs.”
There are benefits to establishing the programs at a local level, too, McDonough added. For example, the Summit County Housing Authority could lower the area median income requirements, commonly referred to as AMI, below the 80% number typically set by the federal government.
Mountainlands Community Housing Trust reported Summit County’s area median income for a four-person household in 2025 is $168,600. In contrast, Wasatch County’s area median income for the same sized household is $136,400 while the Salt Lake City government similarly lists a four-person area median income of $122,700.
“We know that in Summit County, because our area median income is so high, that 80% number is actually above market value for a lot of rentals,” McDonough explained. “It doesn’t help people quite as much as we’d like to be able to help them, so having a locally-focused program does allow us to go down to 55%, for example. It’s not ideal, but we’re trying to come up with different options to be able to make some headway on it.”
McDonough said there are a few goals the Housing Authority hopes to finish by the end of the year, namely mapping its community education campaign and publishing an online database that provides affordable housing information to the public.
“We’re going to be working through creating the requirements and specifications for the (Accessory Dwelling Unit) pilot program because that’s going to be one of the first things launched in 2026,” McDonough said. “Before the end of the year, we’ll have specifics on what that’s going to look like, how much the amount will be, how many units we’ll be able to incentivize the construction of over the 2026 calendar year.”
The pilot program will encourage residents, primarily on the East Side, to build accessory dwelling units to increase the amount of available housing in the area. ADUs are defined as a secondary, independent living space on the same property as another home and are commonly referred to as “granny flats” or “in-law suites.”
Over the next few months, McDonough said the Housing Authority also plans to use social media and a text-based polling service to ask Summit County residents questions about affordable housing.
“We’re trying to gather feedback on how affordable housing is viewed in Summit County and the importance of it, so if people do see those questionnaires, please respond to those,” she said. “We’re also looking for folks who currently or have lived in affordable housing who might be interested in talking about their experience as a sort of testimonial as to why it matters … as part of our ongoing efforts to help explain what it is that we’re doing and why.”
More information on the Summit County Housing Authority is available online by visiting summitcountyutah.gov/2357/Summit-County-Housing-Authority.
