Local mayors decry ‘NIMBYs,’ say look to market, not government, to make homes affordable

Written by Chris Reed
June 27, 2024

ST. GEORGE — For a little over two hours Thursday morning, nearly half of all the mayors in Washington County as well as several developers and homebuilders and local and state elected leaders were in one place: the auditorium of Dixie Technical College.

L-R: Ivins Mayor Chris Hart speaks next to Santa Clara Mayor Rick Rosenberg during an affordable housing mayor’s forum at Dixie Technical College, St. George, Utah, June 27, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

They were there for a forum on attainable housing and what the mayors and other local leaders could do to make it happen.

And the verdict from the six mayors who spoke was that there wasn’t much they could do.

“I want to make it clear that government doesn’t build houses. Government should not build houses,” Washington City Mayor Kress Staheli said near the tail-end of the forum. “We are ready and willing to work with builders.”

Staheli was backed up by a mayor from the other side of the county, Ivins Mayor Chris Hart.

“Everybody in this room is trying. Is there more we can do in improving ordinances? We can but we are not the solution,” Hart said. “The culprit for high-priced housing is the free market. There’s an epic scarcity crisis in housing. We have no control.”

The idea expressed by the mayors is it comes down to supply and demand, and the lack of supply is driving up cost.

Along with mayors Hart and Staheli, St. George Mayor Michele Randall, Santa Clara Mayor Rick Rosenberg, Hurricane Mayor Nanette Billings and Springdale Mayor Barbara Bruno held court on stage while dignitaries like Utah Sen. Evan Vickers, state Rep. Joseph Elison, Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow, Parowan Mayor Mollie Halterman and several other local leaders and council members could be seen in the Dixie Tech hall. Along with their input, there was a brief question and answer session with attendees.

During a visit to St. George in April, Gov. Spencer Cox gave local governments in Southern Utah and the rest of the state a year to do more to spur the building of more, smaller homes or he would push for more action from the state legislature.

Washington City Mayor Kress Staheli speaks during an affordable housing mayor’s forum at Dixie Technical College, St. George, Utah, June 27, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Staheli, who was mentioned as having helped launch the forum, said the lack of an affordable supply of homes has him fearing for a future of people who are raised in Washington County, but can’t afford to stay. 

He called for local elected officials to be better partners with developers and contractors and for state officials to come up with creative solutions that includes pressure for the federal government to release more land.

And mentioning the small home that he and his wife started out in, he asked for local homebuilders to build more homes “like you grew up in or your parents grew up in.”

“And if you grew up in a Parade of Homes home, build more homes like those the rest of us grew up in,” Staheli added. “We risk becoming a community of investors, vacationers and landlords that will have short-term gains but long-term loss to the community as a whole.”

Rosenberg said he is having a hard time filling six open city positions in Santa Clara “from fire chief to a court clerk” and that inability comes from few places they can afford to live near the city. 

“They try to find a place to live and they can’t. They can’t afford to on a public position,” Rosenberg said, turning to St. George’s Randall sitting next to him joking that the only employees he can find are usually already working for St. George or another city and then either Santa Clara has to pay them more or St. George has to pay more to keep them. 

“We keep fighting over the same group of employees. Then we’re paying overtime for employees and that’s coming out of the city budget,” Rosenberg said. “Until the housing situation is fixed, that will continue. This area has a high quality of life. If we don’t have good people in positions and find the funds, that will change.”

A resident’s sign during the Santa Clara Planning Commission meeting, Santa Clara, Utah, May 26, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Rosenberg then criticized “NIMBYs” or the acronym for “not in my backyard.” He noted the battle over, and eventual approval, of a medium-density housing development last year after a group of residents organized to oppose the move. He said it was an example of how pushing for more housing supply could cost an elected official their job.

“I was proud when the council approved that project and the next election comes by and the proponent for that project and one of the best civil servants I’ve worked with and she was soundly defeated,” Rosenberg said.

He didn’t mention the losing council member by name. Incumbent Leina Mathis, who spoke in favor of the project, finished fourth in last November’s election for three seats on the Santa Clara City Council. 

As for what gives NIMBYs strength, Rosenberg pointed at social media saying it could amplify anger about the potential for more homes nearby and quiet those who say more homes mean more affordable places to live. 

“NIMBYs have some great tools we haven’t been able to take advantage of. People are shooting at public officials on social media like it’s a game,” Rosenberg said. “We have to do a much better job of educating the public. You may not want that high-density project but then you don’t get the people that come with it. You’ll be waiting longer for a waiter or an ER nurse, or the policeman or firefighter.”

L-R: St. George Mayor Michele Randall listens to Springdale Mayor Barbara Bruno during an affordable housing mayor’s forum at Dixie Technical College, St. George, Utah, June 27, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

While she said the Utah Legislature has made it harder to enforce city ordinances against short-term rentals, which she cited as another problem making housing less affordable locally, St. George’s mayor said the move the Legislature made to move final plan for residential development decisions away from city councils to non-elected planning commissions — a move criticized by other local leaders — has been helpful in moving needed housing supply growth.

“People say the Planning Commission isn’t elected. But when not elected, they’re more likely to look at a project as how it benefits the community,” Randall said. “They’re not looking at it as, ‘Well, this might keep me from being reelected.'”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Reed serves as a reporter for St. George News, where he has been honored with several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work, including first-place accolades. He started his journalism career as a sports reporter and editor in Southern California where he once compared shoe sizes with Shaquille O'Neal and exchanged mix tapes with members of the Los Angeles Kings. After growing up in the San Fernando Valley learning karate skills from Mr. Miyagi and spending a decade in Las Vegas mostly avoiding the casinos, he came to St. George for love and married his soulmate, a lifetime Southern Utah resident. He is the proud father of two boys, his youngest a champion against both autism and Type 1 diabetes.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

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