PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 13, 2018
#WHEREDOTHEYGO VIDEO LAUNCHED HIGHLIGHTING HOMELESSNESS CRISIS IN UTAH
Salt Lake City, UT – Last Thursday, Crossroads Urban Center and Alliance for a Better Utah hosted a launch event for the preview of a short video bringing attention to the homelessness crisis in Utah. The video outlined the growing affordable housing issue in Utah and asked the question about impacted Utahns, “where do they go?” Today, the two groups released the video on social media, along with a petition calling on Governor Herbert to include financial resources in his 2019 budget to provide for increased affordable housing and rapid rehousing options for singles and families facing homelessness.
“Unsheltered homelessness rates are up in Utah,” said Jessica Roadman, community outreach coordinator for Crossroads Urban Center. “A solution has been presented by elected officials in the form of three new shelters to replace the downtown shelter, but the reduced number of shelter beds in this proposal will not be adequate to address the growing problem of homelessness in Utah. With housing prices rising exponentially in the state, we call on Governor Herbert to include room in his 2019 budget to address this issue.”
“Utahns’ wallets are feeling the pinch of rising housing costs,” said Chase Thomas, policy and advocacy counsel for Better Utah. “There are families in our neighborhoods that are just one incident away from unsheltered homelessness. Communities coming together to discuss this growing issue is the next step in making positive change for our state. We hope Governor Herbert will heed the voices of his constituents calling for funding to reduce homelessness.”
The video was previewed in its entirety, but will be released in three segments over the next three weeks. The first segment can be found here. The petition can be found here (English) and here (Spanish).
###
Crossroads Urban Center is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that assists and organizes Utahns with low incomes, those with disabilities, and people of color to meet basic survival needs and to address essential issues affecting quality of life.
Alliance for a Better Utah is a good government advocacy and watchdog organization based in Salt Lake City. The organization works to improve the lives of all Utahns by ensuring balance, transparency, and accountability in Utah politics, policy, and government. More information at www.betterutah.org.