Utah Affordable Housing with Jenny Chamberlain

In this episode, Toni and I discuss her experiences as a city planner with Hurricane, Utah. She served for over 20 years in various roles supporting cities, and she has insights on accessory dwelling units, transit-oriented development, and a variety of other aspects of affordable and attainable housing.
One of my favorite quotes from this interview was when we were talking about accessory dwelling units and how they have recently been pulled out of the affordable market by high demand for vacation short-term rentals. Toni said, "Short-term may be more lucrative, but man, I would rather have the people that are renting from me wash their own sheets." I think there is definitely some wisdom there to consider.

In this episode we take a short break from talking about attainable housing to check on what the Washington County market is doing with Mitch Godfrey. He is a fellow buyer agent on The Porter Team at ERA Brokers Consolidated. Mitch has been working in real estate for five years and investing for eight years. 
In this episode we discuss current market data from a couple of different sources. The root of all of the information is the Washington County Multiple Listing Service. Additionally, we use an update from Macrae Heppler's at Eagle Gate Title, and our favorite resource is the ERA Brokers Consolidated Research page. That page updates with a lot of useful data most months, with breaks for December when things are slower and a bigger mid-year report in the summer. 
 
 
 
 

In this episode, I interview Jake Peart. Peart has served in the past on the planning commission for the city of Toquerville city, and talk about attainable housing, vacation rentals, economic development, market forces, and his time serving on the planning commission.
I mention a report I had read about the impact of apartments on density, and if you are interested in the details of that report, check it out here: 
Impact of High Density on Surrounding Homes in Salt Lake City

With over twenty years in the lending business, Emily Magill gets really excited when it comes to attainable housing. In this episode we talk about her experience, what the market is doing right now, and how it compares with the last comparable market cycle. 

Krista Longhurst is the director for Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Utah. In this interview she tells us about the work of Habitat and what they do. They are a non-profit organization building one home a year in the Washington County Utah area. 
Check out what is going on with them at their website: https://habitatswu.org

This week I'm talking with Josh Aikens of Zonos. Zonos specializes in cross-border trade, which isn't necessarily tied up in affordable housing, but Josh volunteers for the local Housing Action Coalition, helping lead the Public Awareness group. The public awareness group has an exciting event coming up next week, November 3. Check out the event and RSVP if you want to hear lots of local stakeholders talking about the crucial issue of affordable housing in Washington County, Utah. 
 
 
 

April Gates works at ERA Brokers Consolidated, and she has served the Hurricane Valley and Springdale side of Washington County for quite some time. In our interview we talk about a few aspects of attainable housing, including city policies that could help as well as the impact of vacation rentals on our market. 
You can catch her on the web at her Facebook page with The April Gates Group. 
 
 

Shauna Jo Larkin is the branch broker at ERA Brokers Consolidated for the Hurricane and St. George offices. She is very experienced and competent, and in this episode she shares her wisdom about affordable housing and market economics in general. 

New homes are often less affordable than other homes. However, they play a crucial role in bringing inventory to the market in order for older homes to reach an affordable range. In this episode we talk with Jonathan Zundell, Dan Porter, and Sierra Storwold from the Porter Team about the new construction market and how it impacts affordable housing in Southern Utah, especially the Hurricane Valley side of Washington County.

Heather Johnson studied architectural drafting at Dixie Tech, and as part of her studies she came up with a creative idea to help with bringing more affordable housing options to market. In this episode, she and her professor, Dr. William McMurrin, share about her project and ideas.