Salt Lake Council hashing out housing policy

Only Councilman Eric Jergensen supported requiring affordable housing in TOD zones, but the question of offering incentives garnered three supportive straw-poll votes.

The council is also considering whether to do away with a housing loss mitigation policy that requires developers who demolish housing to make way for new developments to include an equal amount of new housing in their projects.

Mayor Rocky Anderson opposes the mitigation policy, Housing and Neighborhood Development director LuAnn Clark said, because it discourages the creation of developments that are good for their neighborhoods but couldn't feasibly include housing.

But a straw poll Tuesday showed that most council members supported not only maintaining the policy but strengthening it, though they did not specify how.

Saxton said the city's desire to see commercial growth has given developers the upper hand when they want to buy cheap residential buildings and replace them with businesses. But the net result, she said, flies in the face of the city's goals for residential growth.

"Why would we shoot ourselves in the foot?" she asked.

The council will continue discussing the housing policy at future meetings before eventually approving a final version.

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