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Evan Elliott
Member since Mar 31, 2017
Recent Comments
Re: “No Vagrancy?”
I work in Payday loans, My store is at 33rd and State. Our services also go hand in hand with people trying to survive. I have seen the population explode in South Salt Lake in recent years. I wish the cities like South Salt Lake, Salt Lake, etc. work together to come up with a good long term solution that could do more to help provide quality, affordable housing. I have relatives who have ended up at the road home and stayed in hotels in shady areas. They need compassion and assistance. We cannot turn a blind eye to this stuff. Its rough out there. I know that the In Town Suites on 3300s near Trax also has had some similar issues, but a lot of it comes from little options. I know a lot of apartments in the valley just raised rates on rent for the 2017-2018 calendar year. I have seen people priced out onto the streets of Denver, where I grew up and loved.
The sad truth is many people are migrating to the SLC and Denver markets and the demand is causing high rents and a low vacancy. That definitely has it's positive aspects, but it leaves the most vulnerable citizens in the dust. There are a lot of people struggling and hurting out there, and somehow we keep being fed the lie that this national economy is improving. The homeless problem has reached crisis proportions on a Municipal and National Level. Losing 500 beds at Rio Grande in 2019 is not addressing how to get these people into actual homes.