Room and Board | Urban Living
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Room and Board

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If we look back on the past few years here in Utah, the no. 1 wish to Santa would probably be greater availability of affordable housing. Up until the 1950's, there was a really great alternative to high-rent apartments called boarding houses, where lodgers rented one or more rooms on a nightly basis. Included in the nightly fee were usually some services like laundry, cleaning and sometimes meals. In some cases, the renter helped with chores to save on costs.

According to Wikipedia, between one-third and one-half of Boston's entire population lived in a boarding house in the 1830's. When a wife lost her husband, the widow would often rent out rooms to make ends meet. Boarders would be "genteel ladies," low-income laborers and families. Such housing accommodated social change of the era, as it made it feasible for people to move to large cities. Low-end boarding houses were called "flophouses" and often were populated by nefarious characters, the likes of which are seen on crime dramas from old black-and-white movies and TV shows.

Skip to the present and we have Airbnbs—both legally and illegally—around the state. Many cities outlaw them with strict zoning ordinances that prohibit short-term rentals. The amount of money to be had by landlords who rent homes and condos out nightly is very enticing, despite the spotty legality of it. Renting out a property in an Airbnb-type situation takes rentals out of the mix for regular folk who are looking for a long term place to live, adding to our already bad housing shortage.

Despite massive neighborhood opposition, the Salt Lake City Council has approved a zoning change to allow for the biggest boarding home in many decades to be built. A four story, 65-unit building with 192 bedrooms/baths is set to materialize at 129 S. 700 East. The builder will have limits in that they must use materials gathered from the demolition of the seven homes they will push over to erect the boarding house and agree to not rent out rooms for less than 30 days.

To some, this project seems simply like a college dormitory, as laundry, rec rooms and kitchens will be shared spaces. Tearing down homes is never a popular cause nor is increasing density in any neighborhood. Just the traffic alone from new housing units could cause quite an impact on Bueno Avenue and surrounding streets.

What would Santa do—WWSD?—to help our current housing crisis? He'd wiggle his nose or wink away the problem. NIMBYs (not in my backyard) never want any kind of increased density where they live, yet often claim to support the need for affordable housing—just somewhere else.

Well Santa, we're in a housing crisis and we need positive solutions for rentals at all age groups, income levels and life circumstances, from senior citizens to the unsheltered shivering in the snow on our city streets, to hourly employees at our hotels, ski resorts and restaurants.

I personally would leave someone a lifetime supply of cookies if they could solve our housing crisis!