SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah officials are seeking millions from state lawmakers for new Salt Lake City homeless shelters though some residents are asking legislators to keep any money from going toward the most contested of four new planned shelter sites.
Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and Utah Department of Workforce Services Director John Pierpont asked legislators Monday for $3.5 million to start work on two of the shelters, which officials say will diffuse the overcrowding near Salt Lake City’s downtown shelter.
Several residents asked lawmakers not to fund one of the shelters at a site that currently houses a daycare in the Sugar House neighborhood because they worry about its impact on their property values and neighborhoods.
Republican Sen. Brian Shiozawa of Cottonwood Heights says the funding is vital but officials have to do more work with locals who will be impacted.
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