Affordable Housing’s Positive Impact on Community and Economy

 Affordable Housing is one of the big issues Park City Community Foundation has championed for a long time. We believe our local workforce and people of all backgrounds should be able to live here. This includes teachers, firefighters, childcare providers, business owners, athletes, families, younger people who grew up here, and older people who have lived here for decades. Everyone plays a vital role in maintaining our vibrant community. When the workforce has options to access local, attainable housing it can lead to less traffic and job attrition and to a thriving, socio-economically diverse community. 

Our amazing nonprofit partners at Mountainlands Community Housing Trust commissioned an economic impact study from the Denver-based Economic and Planning Systems — thanks to a sustainable tourism grant from the Park City Chamber and Visitors’ Bureau — and the results reveal incredible potential for positive impacts.  

By combining data from the Wasatch Back Affordable Housing Economic Impact Analysis and stories from those living in affordable housing, we can confirm the tangible and positive impacts of affordable housing.  

Kara Cooke, a teacher at McPolin Elementary School, was raised in Park City and was happy to find a job she loved in the town she grew up in. Kara and her husband lived in Salt Lake and both commuted to jobs in Park City, which was made complicated by the birth of their first daughter. They couldn’t afford to live in Park City until applications for affordable housing units opened and they were approved for one. 

“We are able to be a part of the community that I work in, my daughter’s here at the school with me. It really has had such a positive impact on my family,” Kara said in a video of her made by the Community Foundation.  

Kara’s story of living outside of Park City and commuting to work is a common one. According to Mountainland’s Wasatch Back Affordable Housing Economic Impact Analysis, employment along the Wasatch Back has grown by 47% since 2010, but 70% of that growth is in-commuters.  

Investing in affordable housing could give the opportunity Kara has had to many other families and could contribute to 66,000 hours, or 3.3 million miles, of commuting eliminated within the community annually. These changes would contribute to a more thriving community, and a healthier environment as it eliminates a huge source of emissions. Not to mention the economic benefits between filling job positions, household spending, sales tax, and property tax, totals over $47 million back to the community for just 100 affordable housing units.  

Kara will be speaking, alongside other community members and the Community Foundation’s Diego Zegarra, at Mountainland’s Economic Impact of Affordable Housing Along the Wasatch Back and Housing Resources Fair. The free event — happening on Tuesday, August 27 from 6-8pm at the Park City Library — will present the results of the economic impact study, hold a  community discussion, and offer a housing resource fair. There will also be an alternate event held for Wasatch County on Monday, August 26 from 6-8pm at Heber City Public Safety Community Room.