On Thursday, crews started turning dirt in Salt Lake City’s Euclid neighborhood as Valley Behavioral Health officially broke ground on a 68-bed facility for residents experiencing homelessness. The nonprofit says the project is designed to combine long-term housing with on-site support services so residents can stabilize and move toward permanent housing. Local officials and agency leaders gathered at the site while construction kicked off.
As reported by KSL NewsRadio, the project, called Homefront Community Housing, will bring 68 beds to the west side and was celebrated during a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who attended the event, told KSL NewsRadio, “We are a community that collaborates and we are seeing people find hope again.” Valley’s Ryan Wilson, vice president of housing and real estate strategy, said the building expands the nonprofit’s pipeline of permanent supportive housing, according to KSL NewsRadio.
Project design and site
Valley is building the project on land it owns at 107 S. 800 W in the Euclid neighborhood, a tight triangular parcel located two blocks from the Euclid/800 West TRAX stop. Planning documents and renderings filed last year describe a project called Saltair Affordable Housing that would place a residential treatment area on the ground floor with roughly 68 supportive units stacked above. Those details were outlined by Building Salt Lake.
Who's behind it
Valley Behavioral Health, which describes itself as one of Utah’s largest nonprofit mental health providers, operates dozens of programs that span treatment and housing services. The organization’s location page lists an existing Valley Homefront property at 107 S. 800 W that currently includes eight permanent apartments for people transitioning out of homelessness. Valley leaders say the new development will expand that capacity and bring on-site supports directly into residents’ daily lives, according to Valley Behavioral Health.
Where it fits in county plans
The project arrives as Salt Lake County pursues a five-year action plan focused on adding housing and expanding behavioral health services, a strategy that identifies permanent supportive housing as a central tool. County officials have set goals to add hundreds of units over the next several years and have pointed to partnerships with providers such as Valley as crucial to hitting those marks. The plan describes mixed housing-and-services developments as key to making homelessness “brief and rare,” according to Salt Lake County.
According to Building Salt Lake, Valley lists Giv Group as the owner’s representative, AJC Architects as the designer, and Wadman Construction as the general contractor. Design renderings highlight a “healing-centered” layout that features private bedrooms, shared kitchen,s and outdoor amenities, as shown by AJC architects. Officials did not announce an expected opening date at the groundbreaking, and Valley says it will share more construction and occupancy details as the project moves forward.
