Gov. Cox Brings Together Utah Mayors To Chart A Path Forward For Housing In Utah

SALT LAKE CITY - On May 29, 2025, Gov. Cox convened mayors and local officials from more than 40 Utah cities for a housing summit focused on building 35,000 new starter homes and breaking down barriers to homeownership.

“These are the leaders working every day to make their communities better places to live, work and raise a family,” said Gov. Cox. “Our goal is simple but urgent: how do we come together to make housing more attainable for Utah families?” 

The Built Here: Housing Summit provided a forum for local leaders to share successes, address challenges and align efforts to meet Utah’s housing needs. Since the governor’s announcement of the 35,000-home target, 5,100 starter homes have been built and sold, and more are underway across the state.

“We’ve made progress, but we know we need to move faster,” said Gov. Cox. “Utah’s rising generation deserves the same shot at homeownership that many of us had.”

Cities like Clearfield, Herriman and Spanish Fork are leading the way by pioneering transit-oriented development, fast-tracking approvals and demonstrating how to turn bold goals into real results.

“Mayors, cities and the governor are on the same page — we all see the need for housing,” said Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd. “We all know we have a problem that can’t be solved by one party. Together, we can come up with ideas and find a solution to this.” 

Gov. Cox also announced a new statewide housing dashboard that will allow residents, planners and policymakers to track building progress, identify gaps and learn from what’s working. The dashboard will enable policymakers to focus on making data-backed, evidence-based decisions and to shift the conversation from debating facts to debating solutions. 

The summit highlighted innovative reforms being adopted in other states, such as eliminating parking mandates, legalizing accessory dwelling units and modernizing building codes. “These are thoughtful, bipartisan solutions,” Gov. Cox said. “Utah has always been a leader and we intend to stay that way.”