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NORTH SALT LAKE — A homeless shelter could be moving near a North Salt Lake neighborhood, and county leaders said there's little they can do to stop it.
Homeowners of the Foxboro subdivision recently learned that the former LifeLine Teen Treatment Center, located at 1130 W. Center, just a few blocks from their homes, could soon become a new homeless shelter with at least 80 beds.
"Everybody agrees that there needs to be places for the homeless people, services and help. This place has no access to any of that," said Sharon Stanger, one of the homeowners who lives near the proposed site.
County responds to new state law
After learning about the upcoming shelter last week, Stanger and dozens of other residents confronted the Davis County Commission during its Tuesday morning meeting. However, the commissioners said there was very little they could do about the shelter.
"The process is very challenging because, on the one hand, it's designed to not be open and public," said Davis County Commissioner Lorene Kamalu.
Kamalu said a local task force, composed of the area mayors and a county commissioner, was tasked with developing housing plans for "code blue" conditions in the winter.
According to HB499, signed into law in 2023, counties with populations of at least 175,000 — which includes Davis County — are required this year to submit a winter response plan to address the emergency shelter needs of individuals experiencing homelessness from Oct. 15 to April 30. The winter response plan requires:
- A detailed transportation plan, budget, revenue sources, including in-kind sources, and any other component specified by the office.
- A detailed county plan for a code blue event, including the number and location of available beds for individuals experiencing homelessness for the duration of the code blue event.
- A guarantee that any temporary winter response shelter planned for operation within the applicable county will meet all local zoning requirements.
But a county is exempt from the requirement if the county submits "documentation demonstrating that the applicable county is developing a plan to address the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness within the county throughout the entire year, as opposed to only during the winter response period," the law says.
Davis County had decided to pursue the year-round plan, which would have extended its deadline to August 2025.
"From their perspective, a temporary solution had a lot of logistical challenges, a lot of operational type challenges, when you're only running a facility six months out of the year," said county administrator Ryan Steinbeigle on the task force's decision. "There are some groups who do really good at helping people get stabilized out of homelessness, and we think that's the best approach. If we're going to invest resources, time and energy into doing something, let's do something that actually helps solve the problem, not perpetuate the problem."
However, the county was still required to develop a code blue plan for this year. The code blue plan submitted by the Davis County task force proposed to the state to purchase a bus that would house 20 people when an alert was issued. The bus would drive around while people slept and would drop them off in the morning, according to Steinbeigle.
That plan was rejected because the amount of funding it required was more than what the state had made available to Davis County. The rejection gives the state the authority to determine a code blue plan for the county.
Proposed Switchpoint shelter
Around the same time, the county and the state were approached by Switchpoint regarding the provider's plans to submit an offer on the North Salt Lake property. Switchpoint made a funding request to the county and the state of Utah to purchase the buildings, which would provide year-round emergency shelter to 52 individuals and 26 family households.
That request — up to $1.75 million — was then posed to the Utah Homeless Services Board for approval on Thursday, prompting debate among members. Clinton City Mayor Brandon Stanger voiced his disapproval from his seat in the audience, stating that the Davis County Council of Governments was only informed the night prior. Despite admonishment from the Utah Homeless Board Chairman Randy Shumway, Stanger continued to relay his frustration at the lack of notice and public comment on the proposal.
"This is a Davis County site, but it's like a half a mile from the Salt Lake City border. I think if you were camping on Victory Road or along the Jordan River, north of North temple, it might be closer to get to that shelter than to some of the others in Salt Lake City," said Jim Behunin, state board member.
"I don't know that we have enough population right now in Davis County to justify a shelter this size," Behunin continued. "I've spoken to several mayors concerned with the location. This is really not central. Ideally, we would have this in the middle of the county.
That point was quickly countered by Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who later moved to approve the funding request.
"Some of those folks on Victory Road or on Jordan River are from Davis County, and they've come into Salt Lake because there isn't anywhere yet to go in Davis County," said Mendenhall. "We need to approach this from the real standpoint that the lack of options for people in most parts of the state of Utah to receive shelter and services funnels people into a few cities in this state. I'm excited that other counties are looking at ways to increase services for those who live there today and possibly for those who had to leave but would love to come back to their home community to receive services."
Still, Behunin pointed out that some city and county leaders "are feeling blindsided because they haven't had a chance to really give their input onto this." Among them are the Foxboro residents.
"I've got small kids, and the proposed homeless shelter is right next to the trail where we walk on all the time," said homeowner Amy Everett on Tuesday.
"I was very upset that it was going to be moving into our neighborhood, as well as upset that we had not heard about this or been given information about where we could find out more or be part of the process prior to today," added homeowner Christy Roe.
The commissioners said Switchpoint has been successful in the St. George area. The program requires the occupants to work, give back to the community, and become self-sufficient within 90 days.
The commission is also asking that the task force's process be made more public and is encouraging homeowners to lobby their local lawmakers for that change. Homeowners can also attend the Utah Homeless Board meetings as they are public.
Ultimately, the apparent lack of notice gave the Utah Homeless Board pause and prompted it to delay a decision regarding funding until its next meeting on Sept. 12.
Correction: A previous version identified Ryan Steinbeigle as a county commissioner, but he is the grants administrator for Davis County community and economic development.
