Information about the current cost of housing in Utah.

1. Utah’s Housing Crisis
Sean Pelzer

2. The Problem

3. Housing Cost
The cost of housing in Utah has increased at an incredibly
large and fast pace.

4. Covid 19 Impact
Covid 19 also caused many
people to lose their jobs,
causing them to lose their
houses and ending up out
on the street.

5. The Solution

6. Raising Minimum Wage
Raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour would
give people more of a fighting chance if they want to
purchase a home and just combat the cost of living in
general and it could actually help improve the economy.

7. Long Overdue
This graph shows where
minimum wage would be if
it had followed trends of
productivity.

8. The Data

9. Housing Cost Increase

10. Salt Lake City Housing Price Increase
The post pandemic housing market has exploded. Norada, a real-estate investing site,
mentioned in one of their articles about Salt Lake’s hot market had this to say;
“In the Salt Lake City Metro Area, house prices rose 26.2 percent over the past year and rose
7.2 percent over the last quarter (Santarelli).”
In the beginning of the year on average it took a house 33 days to be sold, just 3 months
later to this report it was taking a house just 19 days to be sold.

13. St. George Housing Price Increase
It’s not just the Salt Lake Area either, St. George is seeing a dramatic increase similar to this
as well.
An article written by the Spectrum discussing St.George’s housing market said this;
“In May 2016 the median sale price for a home was $240,000 in Washington County. Now,
just five years later, the median price for a home is around $487,500, a 103% increase. It
only takes an average of 15 days on the market before the typical house sells. Just a year
ago, the average 65 days. Fewer houses plus more buyers equals a hot commodity (Will and
Hemmersmeier).”

14. Minimum Wage and Cost
of Housing

15. How does this relate to the minimum wage.
The 28% rule states you should spend no more than 28%
of your pre-tax income on your rent/mortgage payment.

17. Fair market Rent
According to a report done by the National Low Income Housing
Coalition in 2021, the fair market rent for a two- bedroom
apartment in Utah was $1,051.
Full-time work at the minimum wage in Utah, $7.25, means that
pre-tax income comes out to $1,160 a month. That means you are
spending 90% of your income at minimum wage on your rent
alone. 3.5x what the 28% rule recommends.

18. The reality of the housing prices in Utah
The Report done by the National Low Income Housing
Coalition doesn’t even represent the current state of housing
prices either.
If you do a quick search on rent/ mortgages and housing prices
in Utah, you will find that everywhere you look a typical
rent/mortgage goes for easily closer to $1,500/month.

19. Raising the Minimum
Wage

20. What would happen if the minimum wage
was raised?
There is a misconception that raising the minimum wage would have a negative effect on the
economy because this would cause employers to begin charging more for their product if
they paid their people more and that if they paid people more that they wouldn’t hire as
many people leading them to be understaffed and for unemployment to go up.

21. The Reality
In an informative video done by The Economist titled ‘The Minimum Wage: Does It Hurt
Workers,’ they mention a study where minimum wage was raised in New Jersey and wages
did not change in Pennsylvania, the employment rates were then studied. It was found that
employment rates in New Jersey actually increased, while they stayed the same in
Pennsylvania. This was because employers notoriously underpay their employees to keep
profits extremely high, however even raising the salaries they found that the companies still
made plenty of profit and more people were inclined to work, raising employment rates.

23. Raise the Wage Act 2021
The Raise the Wage Act is
an act that proposes to
raise minimum wage
gradually from $7.25 - $15
an hour by 2025. It’s been
shown this will give nearly
32 million workers a raise,
many of which are essential
workers which we found
out through the pandemic
are very important for the
economy

24. Works Cited
Santarelli, Marco. “Salt Lake City Utah Housing Market Prices & Forecast 2021–2022.” Norada
Real Estate Investments, 5 Sept. 2021, www.noradarealestate.com/blog/salt-lake-city-real-
estate.
Brau, James C., et al. “Utah County Housing Trends from 2000-2016: A Quantitative Research
Analysis.” Journal of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, vol. 94, Jan. 2017, pp. 137–
150. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-
com.libprox1.slcc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=129554505&site=eds-
live&scope=site.
Will, K. S., and Sean Hemmersmeier. "How St. George's Housing Market Squeezes Out
Residents." The Spectrum, Oct 10, 2021. ProQuest,
https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/how-st-georges-
housing-market-squeezes-out/docview/2580385586/se-2?accountid=28671.

25. Works Cited continued
Does minimum wage hurt workers
"The Minimum Wage: Does it Hurt Workers, in Economist Video." , directed by Anonymous
, The Economist Intelligence Unit N.A., Incorporated, The Economist, 2021. ProQuest,
https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/audio-video-works/minimum-
wage-does-hurt-workers-economist-video/docview/2487441990/se-2?accountid=28671.
NLIHC. "Fair Market Rent Value of Two-bedroom Apartment in The United States in 2021,
by State (in U.S. Dollars)." Statista, Statista Inc., 9 Jul 2021, https://www-statista-
com.libprox1.slcc.edu/statistics/422775/us-two-bedroom-housing-fair-market-rent-by-state/