SALT LAKE CITY—With the announcement of a proposed state homeless campus to be built on the west side of Salt Lake City, lawmakers whose shared districts are in the proposed area are running three bills in the legislature to respond to the project. 

Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City and Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, held a press conference Feb. 11 to introduce the bills and express their concerns.

“We are in the middle of the session and we’re discussing budget items,” said Escamilla. “Many, many budget items, more than 1,500 bills. This is something that’s still lingering in our community of this potential 1,300 bed facility on the west side of Salt Lake City.”

Escamilla said it’s something that has been a concern for their constituents from the moment it was announced by the Utah Homeless Services Board. “We’ve had multiple meetings as legislators with many of our leaders and we came up with these three pieces of legislation that we’ll discuss.”

One of the first things Escamilla said they want to be very clear about is they recognize there’s a need for more services related to individuals experiencing homelessness and unsheltered families and individuals.

“We want to make sure that resources are being put into those needs, but we don’t think that a 1,300 bed facility is the answer. So we’re here to say if, in any situation, that moves forward we do have some bills that will be addressing impact on the actual services that will be provided to those individuals that will be part of this facility but also the communities and neighboring communities that would potentially be impacted.”

Westside is a wonderful place to live, said Jeff Olson, Chair Fairpark Community Council and a member of the Westside Coalition Board. “We have a great community, we have wonderful people.”

It does have some challenges, he said. “Over time it’s been too easy in many ways for our state and others to place facilities that are needed but that can be a challenge to a community to place them on the west side, such as the prison, inland port and now the prospect of a facility for a large number of people who are experiencing the challenges of getting shelter.”

Many of them suffered in difficult ways, said Olson. “I was talking recently to the director of a rehab facility who told me about someone who had been out there unsheltered. How (he said) for the first few nights you want to just take enough drugs to keep you awake all the time because you're afraid that somebody is going to steal your things while you’re asleep or they’re going to attack you.”

Olson said they are really concerned about them but he’s also concerned for the community around there. “I’ve become very aware of how difficult it is for many people who live in the neighborhoods where there are people who are unsheltered. If we need a facility like this one, we need to be sure it’s done right so it really does benefit people who need it and isn’t a problem for the community in which it’s located.”

“The community has a lot of concerns right now,” said Hollins. “Part of their concern is not knowing what’s going on. They feel that they were kind of blindsided by the shelter moving into this district and they weren’t part of the process.”

In response to that is SB246 Utah Homeless Service Board Amendments, she said. “What this would do is add a representative to the board and this person will be appointed by the Westside Coalition. So if we want solutions we’re going to have to include the community. We feel that this is a way that the community will have a voice.”

The second one is SB239, Escamilla said. “This is the State Homeless Campus Amendments. On this one what we’re trying to do is create almost like a trigger law. What we’re doing is making sure that there are specific requirements in statute of what it means to operate a homeless services campus.”

The other bill is SB279, State Homeless Campus Neighborhood Tax Credit, she said. “It says if there’s going to be this level of a homeless campus facility being built that the neighbors in the communities in a radius of one mile will get a non refundable income tax credit for taxpayers that own real property in that area.”

Again, it’s just to mitigate the impact, said Escamilla. “We recognize it’s not required of everyone to address the issues of individuals experiencing homelessness. It’s our families, it’s our neighbors, it’s our friends, some people we know and we care.”

Most of them are from Utah, she said. “So they are our community, but we need to do it in a responsible way. Our goal is that there are also other supportive resources for real mental health and substance abuse services and we cannot set people up for failure.”