S.B. 277 Utah Homes Investment Program Amendments

What this bill does

S.B. 277 removes the cap on the interest rate lenders can charge under the Utah Homes Investment Program, which uses $300 million in state funds to make loans for housing construction, and extends the program's funding availability from 2028 to 2029. It also requires the state treasurer to study the program's lending activity and effects.

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Every vote

• 4 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 13, 2026Who voted how
• 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 24, 2026Who voted how
• 21 yes, 0 no, 8 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 6 yes, 0 no, 4 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 27, 2026Who voted how
• 6 yes, 1 no, 3 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 27, 2026Who voted how
• 9 yes, 61 no, 5 absentHouse vote, which failed · Mar 4, 2026

Hearings and debates

• Feb 13, 2026 Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (20 turns)

  1. Committee chair53:21

     Let's go to Senate Bill 2 77. Senator Stratton, thank you very much for being here. What, I'm gonna turn the time over to you.

  2. Sen. Keven J. Stratton53:39

     So you stratton for your 2 77 in Utah Home Investment Program. Thank you, chair and committee. I'm grateful and honored to be here with you today. There is, uh, as we know in the, our, our, uh, community landscape, we, we have some challenges with affordable housing. We also have, uh, leading and, and flowing into that challenge is a need for additional capital, uh, and also infrastructure. And this bill seeks to address both those, those things in a way that, uh, is going to, I believe, be very, very helpful and, and positive. We have a goal, our, the executive branch has talked about of needing 35,000 new doors for homes. As we talk to our capital market, they feel that they have the muscle to meet about half that need. There's the concept of, of deposits, and then fractional lending, the, you take a percentage of that. The sense is, is to really get to that, those 17,000 they get, they can get halfway there, but to get to this, the second half, there probably needs to be an additional billion dollars deposited into the accounts. In that context, we looked as a state that we had, we did a study through this, this last interim looking about our, looking at our cash balances, where they are and why they, why they're, they're at that, the levels that they are after we discover where they are and asking the question, is there an opportunity to use some of those resources, invest back in Utah, to put Utah first and, and address those concerns with infrastructure and capital in the market? We, uh, some time ago, it was two years, two years, or Steve, why don't you come up and join me, I'm gonna have him. But a couple years ago we had, uh, we, we, we thought about the capital piece, uh, taking some of, uh, some, some resources in our TIF and putting them as available credit for deposits for the banks to then take in and loan out and, and meet that, that billion dollar need. And the challenge is there were some restraints put on that that really made it unattractive. And we only had 15 of the 300 million used, uh, to this point. So what this bill does is on line 52, it removes, in talking to our financial institutions, it removes a barrier that seemed to be prohibiting them from, uh, engaging and using this, this opportunity to, to stimulate the needed growth. Uh, there was 150 basis point cap on the funds, and we've removed that. And then on line 92, we're extending the time that these funds are available from 2028 to 2029. And then circling back to the study that we did, the, one of the recommendations is we, we do a beta test to see the impact of funding within Utah, the institutions within Utah, the impact that, that would be, there's a multiplying effect in, in this, in our communities, in the economic churn that's impacted by having deposits available in a secure and prominent way. And so we want to study that. So that's the three things that this bill does. I would like to turn the time to my copilot today, uh, to share some perspective. Then we'll turn it back to committee. Thank you. Okay. Thank

  3. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Senior Advisor, Housing Strategy and Innovation57:50

     You. Thank you, Senator. Thank you. Committee. Um, and, and Senator Stratton is, has nailed it. Um, initially we put these funds out there, so in our public Treasurer's investment fund right now, this is a subset of it, the TIFF Fund, uh, which is transportation funding. We have some nearly $6 billion in that fund. Um, that's, that's kind of sitting there, uh, has been for some time. And it's, it's programmed, but it's got time release constraints on it for the amount of money we can spend in any given year. Um, so we'll we're working with, uh, UDOT on, on making sure that that money is not going to impact anything. But taking those funds and putting them out into the construction and creation of starter homes was the goal. Uh, what we found is, even though bank executives were very willing to lend at that rate and that cap, um, the loan committees, uh, were not, uh, when it Uintah loan committees, um, because this money is really targeted at the small builders, um, going back to 2010, our small builders, uh, prior to the, to the great recession were the, the driver of our home building economy. And after 2010, their ability to attract capital and to, and to be able to produce homes has been in incredibly compromised. And so that's who we wanted to target with that. And, and the challenge with the lending committees is that the banks are saying, Hey, the risk for these guys is up here. And, and so they're, you know, so the, the, the cap on the, on the amount of money that the bank would lend and, and how much they would make on that didn't match what they viewed as their risk profile. So taking this cap off doesn't mean that the banks will have carte blanche. They're still gonna have to compete with one another, but it'll allow them to compete in a free and open market where these, where these builders can go to several lenders and say, Hey, give us your best deal. And then the builders will be able to still choose which deal they take. So, um, we, we didn't want to enrich the banks, but at the same time, we gotta make this this thing work. And so this allows the marketplace to do its job, which is to compete for deals and allows the, these small builders to go out and, and price these deals with different banks. And, and I think it will have the intended effect. Um, there's an administrative change we need to make at the treasurer's office that isn't dealt within this bill that will also free up that, that funding, so that we'll have lenders going after it. But Senator Cullimore Stratton's, exactly right. We have right now somewhere in the neighborhood of $38 billion in our public treasures fund. Um, putting that money to work in Utah and measuring the impact of that money in Utah, um, I'm no economist, but if you ask me, putting our taxpayer funds to work in our own state, rather than buying corporate bonds from Walmart and putting that money to work in gang Juab China is a better result and will result in additional economic activity. That's been the, the, the sort of the focus of this. We want to be able to measure that impact. There's some studies from University of Chicago that the bankers have already done. So this will allow us to measure it in Utah. So we're, we're fully supportive of this bill and, and the great work that Senator Vickers doing. Thank you. Uh, I, in, in some, again, we're, we're trying to address three choke points. One is our infrastructure. We have 109,000 units in a survey of a portion of our state already approved, but infrastructure is one of the choke points. So this funding can be used by, for infrastructure in the marketplace as well as vertical construction in the marketplace. It adds though the third prong of looking at addressing the capital needs to leverage in the marketplace to meet the demand. So it's really a, a trifecta effect that very, very helpful. And, uh, uh, it'll, it would allow us potentially, based on this, give us the confidence and data to show what, just innately, you know, that if you're investing and churning in the economy, it's gonna be productive to, uh, take further steps to, to address this issue. Chair, that's what we have.

  4. Committee chair1:02:12

     Thank you. Appreciate that. Am I gonna turn to the committee for questions? Senator Johnson? Whoops. There we go.

  5. Sen. John D. Johnson1:02:21

     I, I just wanna better understand, uh, the risk profile and stuff and what we're, what, what, what we're really doing in putting some of these funds at risk and what, what, what's the difference from the way it is right now?

  6. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Senior Advisor, Housing Strategy and Innovation1:02:37

     Go ahead and I'll address That. Yeah. Sweep out. We're not putting the funds at any greater risk. Um, the, the state is not guaranteeing anything. These funds are going to, uh, banks who are fully on the hook for their deposits. So if the project succeeds or fails, it is fully on the bank. The state has no, we, we don't want to do that. We want the market to do its job. All we're doing is putting cash available for these banks to, to borrow from the, from the treasurer at a reduced rate. The banks then take that money and they do their loans, and they're fully on the hook for the results of those projects. So they have, they have to do their job, which is to vet the projects, underwrite the projects, fund the projects. If the project fails, they still owe us the money. We are not on the hook for any, for anything as a state, which is really critical, I think. Thank you for that question. To understand that Great question. If I may chair just add that there, there is a principle and, and recognition that with this, these funds, we invest them. And the question is, where is the, where's the best place to invest them? And I would advocate, given the data that we have of financial security and the strength of our economy and our banking industry, that is a national leader, frankly, we, we, we, the banks would have to fail for this to, to, it's not the project, but the banks would fail. And I would say, like my father used to say, if I have an investment, I'd like to be able to see it and touch it, see where it is. This really gives us a, a Utah solution to a Utah challenge that we're facing right here in our state. And I would prefer this to be here than the great grand majority of places elsewhere. Does that answer your question, Senator?

  7. Committee chair1:04:38

     Okay. Um, any other questions from the committee? Seeing none, is there anyone from the public that would like to speak to this bill? Okay. We have one, Steve. Yeah. And, okay. And then I'm gonna have one online as well.

  8. Cameron Diehl, Executive Director, Utah League of Cities and Towns1:04:58

     Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the committee, camera deal, executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns. And we appreciate Senator Stratton's, um, the bill in front of you. And I wanna just put a quick exclamation point on one of the points that this bill will help address. And that is creating additional flexibility for these dollars to be spent on infrastructure to unlock housing units that are currently planned for, currently entitled or will be planned for. Um, and will be entitled. He referenced a, a data point that I think is, IM important to just make sure you recognize how it fits in the overall context here. The data set he referenced was just from eight cities in Southern Salt Lake County and Northern Utah County. Just those eight cities have 109,000 housing units that they've planned for, but the vast majority of those are stuck due to, uh, large scale infrastructure needs. So providing a little additional flexibility in this fund could in turn build those infra, that regional infrastructure, which then in turn would make it possible to build those housing units. So we appreciate the bill and we supported the creation of this fund a couple of years ago, and, and we support this bill and other bills this session that are adding flexibility to that fund. Thank you.

  9. Committee chair1:06:06

     Thank you. Okay. We have Chris, um, online. Chris, I'm gonna please introduce yourself.

  10. Chris Gamvroulas, President, Ivory Development1:06:18

      Thank you, Madam Chair. Chris Gales, um, ivory development and the Utah Property Rights Coalition. Speaking in favor of this bill. Um, I always like when I get to agree with Cameron deal, when the private sector agrees with the, uh, league of Cities and towns, it's always a good day and, uh, and really support, uh, Senator Stratton, uh, and, and want to put an exclamation point on two issues. And one is that Steve is 100% correct, and that is that the, the, it is really the small and medium sized builders. It, it isn't the, the larger builders, even the privates like ivory homes or the nationals, but this really can help the small and medium sized builders. And if you look at the data from 20 years ago, all of the top 10 builders were all local home builders in Utah. And today there is, uh, only ivory homes is the only local builder that is in the top 10 home builders in the state of Utah. And it, this will support, um, the small, uh, the, this data will lead to being able to support that and, uh, really encourage you to, uh, uh, move this forward and, and support this bill. Thank you.

  11. Committee chair1:07:34

      Okay. Thank you very much. I'm gonna turn back to the committee for, uh, discussion or action Two Seven. Senator Stevenson.

  12. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:07:53

      Yes. Thank you. Uh, I would move that, uh, bill, is it 2 77? It is Senate Bill two 70, Senate Bill 2 77 7, Uh, be passed out of committee with a favorable, favorable recommendation.

  13. Committee chair1:08:07

      Okay. We have a motion to pass out Senate Bill 2 77, Utah Home Investment Program Amendments with a favorable recommendation. Any discussion to that motion? Seeing none. All in favor indicate. Whoops. Excuse me. Sorry.

  14. Unknown speaker1:08:24speaker not certain

      Would you like to sum, I Won't get in way of that motion.

  15. Committee chair1:08:28

      Thank you. Okay. Um, Senator Stevenson, would you like to sum just

  16. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:08:32

      To, just to what we're doing here, really, um, puts us into the place we intended this go when we put the bill together in the beginning. Uh, and, and this, this, uh, sometimes big bills take, this takes us a while to get right. Takes two or three sessions and this, this makes that correction.

  17. Committee chair1:08:49

      Okay. All in favor indicate by saying Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

  18. Committee chair1:08:55

      Senate Bill 2 78 was unanimously passed out of this committee to the Senate, um, for, excuse me, Senate Bill 2 77, uh, Utah Home Investment Program Amendments passes out of this committee, uh, with unanimous recommendation.

  19. Unknown speaker1:09:14speaker not certain

      Thank you. Chair and committee.

  20. Committee chair1:09:17

      Okay, we are moving on then to Senate Bill 2 78.

• Feb 24, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Sen. Keven J. Stratton36:22

     Thank you Mr. President, uh, to help our, uh, challenges we're facing with infrastructure and, uh, new home opportunities. Uh, home for our, the, the, the home, uh, market we have, uh, sometime there's two, what year ago we, we placed, uh, some money out of our tiff, uh, short term to allow it available to, in the marketplace to help, uh, stimulate and create some capital and opportunities for the new home buyers. Uh, first time home buyers. What we found is that there was some parameters in that that made it a challenge, uh, to be desirable the marketplace. Only 15 million of the, uh, several hundred million were, were actually drawn upon What we're doing here. Two things is we are removing the cap that, uh, was placed on the funds, uh, in terms of interest rates. So it's more reflective of the free market and the risk. And also we are looking at a report prepared by the treasurer, uh, resulting on this notion of having the capital in the market through then through fractional lending to meet the demand. It's estimated that our financial markets can take care of about half the demand that we need. If the goal is 35,000 doors, but there needs to be an additional billion dollars available of capital, that then would be factually lended. What this, uh, piece of legislation does is it helps, uh, Track the resources that are going in, how they're being used, and allow through the study, then also allow, it opens up the, the, to the marketplace a more effective rate that would be allowed then for not only, uh, vertical construction, but also infrastructure. But that I'll be glad to yield to questions.

  2. President Adams (presiding)38:43

     Thank you Senator Stratton looking for questions through this Bill. Say no questions. I may go to you for a motion.

  3. Sen. Keven J. Stratton38:56

     I'll waive summation and, and, uh, move that this be read for the third time.

  4. President Adams (presiding)39:00

     Thank you. And the question is, shall Senate bill 2 77 be read a third time Roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk39:05

     Senator Vickers. Baldy Lewin Aye. Brammer Thus Fillmore Aye. Escamilla. Aye. Fillmore Harper. Hankins Aye. Ipson Ipson Aye. Johnson. Aye. K. Juab Aye. McKay? Aye. Mikel Milner Aye. Musman Owens pitcher Er Yes. Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Weiler Aye. Wilson Aye. Winterton President Adams Aye. Senate Bill 2 77, having received 25 yay votes, zero nay votes, four being absent shall be read A third time.

  6. President Adams (presiding)40:11

     Senator Cullimore

  7. Sen. Chris H. Wilson40:13

     President motion to encircle Senate bill 2 56. We have a motion to encircle Senate bill 2 56.

  8. President Adams (presiding)40:23

     Identity protection modifications. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll that motion passes. The bill is encircle. Senator

• Feb 25, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Sen. Keven J. Stratton1:05:20

     Uh, let me just give a little background real quick. Number one, uh, we have a significant amount of resources in our rainy day and, uh, at several funds, 38 plus billion dollars, which is large in our budget. And question is asked as we look at investment options, is there an opportunity potentially to invest in Utah? Make Utah first We had a, a study group that looked at this with our state treasurer, our auditor, another, uh, specialties in, in with, with a great put together great brain trust to look at this. And the one of the recommendations coming back was, let's take a portion of resources that we have and do a beta test to, to, to make sure that what the study is showing proves true. And what this bill does is it creates that test opportunity in lines 40 to 47. It also addresses, comes to an issue that we've, uh, wrestled with in, in trying to provide additional capital in the marketplace for homes and, and the associated costs. And we know that the city of leaks and towns has done a survey and among just a few of our political subdivisions, they've, there's been approval for 109,000 doors. Yet the challenge is infrastructure. So what we're doing here is we're making some funding available to be leveraged and the, the fractional lending that takes place in our institutions funding available to do that. Uh, we did set aside 300 million to help the vertical construction, but that was, uh, not really picked up in the marketplace because of the cap on the, the return. And so we were messing with a free market a little bit there. So we've removed that cap in line 52 to 54 and then on line 93, we are extending the source of this, the 300 million from July 1st, 2028 to July 1st, 2029. That I'll be glad to yield. Any questions? Discussion to the bill? Seeing none.

  2. Presiding officer1:07:51

     Back to you. Senator Stratton.

  3. Sen. Keven J. Stratton1:07:53

     Thank you Mr. President Pro. Tim, I will waive summation and move that house Senate bill 2 77 be passed. And the question is, shall Senate bill two seven seven pass roll call vote.

  4. Senate clerk (roll call)1:08:09

     Senator Vickers Baldry Lewin Rammer bus Comore es Camilla Aye. Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Hankins Aye. Ipsen Johnson Aye. Quan Aye. McKay Mikel Aye. Milner Aye. Musman Owens pitcher Bu rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Bickers Aye. Weiler Aye. Wilson Winterton, president Adams

  5. Senate President Adams (presiding)1:09:08

     Senate Bill 2 77, having received 21 yay votes, zero nay votes, eight being absent passes and will be sent to the house for their consideration.

• Feb 27, 2026 House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (37 turns)

  1. Committee chair (presiding)1:42:29

     Uh, Senator Stratton, we'll go to you.

  2. Sen. Keven J. Stratton1:42:31

     We've got, uh, before us, SB 2 77, Utah Homes Investment Program Amendments. Thank you Chair, uh, committee. It's good to be with you today. Thanks for work. Here we are. Friday, we've got weekend, and then another five days we'll be, uh, taking this hat off and getting back to other important things. This bill, uh, I would like Mr. Chair, I do have a substitute online. I would like to adopt that. Would you like me to speak to that, or would you like me to? Yeah, let's, let's go ahead and speak to that and then we'll adopt it when we do committee action. Okay. The underlying bill does three things, and then the substitute adds a fourth element, but let me talk to the three things. Underlying is in place. Uh, the underlying bill is a result of work through the, the interim that we, we talked about the amount of, of resources, it was an investment task force that was put together. We looked at all the, across the state from top to bottom, side to side, and the money that we have in, in, uh, the bank. And we found that across the state we have 38 and a half billion dollars, which is a little bit more than our annual state budget spread throughout. And the question, one of the questions was, why do we have it? And, and, and, and what are the sources? And, and another question was, is there a way, if we're going to have funds, rainy day funds and tiffs and all the, all the different funds we have, is, is there a way to, while they're sitting there, use them to invest in, in Utah projects that will help Utah, uh, create that fractional lending churn that takes place when we deposit money in the bank and they turn around and and lend it out? And the economic benefit with that coming from that was the, the notion, let's, let's try, uh, to do beta test to prove what the, uh, the theory is that and, and then study it. And so the first thing this bill does is it has our treasurer conduct a study on the activity and the lending and the impact of our this investment program. The, the second thing this does is in 2024, we set aside $300 million out of our TIF for, uh, from 2024 to 2028 to allow that funding to go towards, uh, those that would like to use it for either vertical or vertical construction for the challenge we're facing with affordable housing. So the idea was there would be an opportunity for developers and so forth to come in and, and access the funds through a lending institution that would bear the risk of the funds and, and, and losing, it's not at risk of the state, but lending institution, the challenge that we had is there was a cap put upon what that lender could charge, and it created a, a, uh, unattractive opportunity for the lending institutions. And so the second thing the bill does is it removes the cap on the amount of interest that could be charged 150 basis points above the federal funds. Lulu is a little bit higher so that there's, there's appropriate recognition of the risk that the lending institutions are making. And essentially we're depositing the money. By the way, if our financial markets, the, the assumption is we need approximately another billion dollars deposited in available for that fractional lending to fuel the fiscal financial muscle to build the 35 roughly thousand doors that the governor's wanting to do in, in to, to address the problem that represents about half the, the, the required capital to do it. They, they figure they could do half of it. So in sum, the three things we, we do this study, we take the cap off, and third is we move the date from 2028 to 2029. That's the underlying bill. Now, to the additional, the substitute, there's another fund that's been set aside. It's $10 million that's been used for first and second class cities to take, uh, areas that, uh, uh, a, a, a beta example would be we have dilapidated rental units, uh, set up a program so they can come in and refurbish them and turn those into owner occupied doors. Again, one of addressing the affordable housing issue on that front. And what the modification here is, is it gives additional, uh, communities first, second class plus those that H House homeless shelters, the opportunity to drop on this fund, as well as remove some of the barriers that were, we're prohibiting that from being used. And that's reflected in, in the substitute on lines 99 through like 130. So those are now four things that we're doing, four levers we're seeking to pull, uh, to increase our affordable housing and, and first time home buyers. I actually have someone from the League of Cities and Towns and someone from the Banker Association. I'd like them to, to share their comments. And I'll turn the ask you to turn it back to me.

  3. Committee chair (presiding)1:48:35

     Is that okay? Yep. So, uh, let's have League of Cities and towns come first. Great. And then we'll have someone from the Utah Bank Association. Welcome, Mr. Diehl.

  4. Cameron Diehl, Utah League of Cities and Towns1:48:48

     Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Cameron Deal, executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, we're supportive of this bill and appreciate the Senator Stratton's efforts to look at this, uh, program and identify ways to ensure that these dollars can help support affordable owner occupied housing. Um, I'll specifically speak to the language that's in, in the substitute to provide just some quick context there. Um, last year, the legislature created this program. So this bill does not create a new program. It simply adds the, some flexibility into that existing program for cities who qualify to look at these housing units that are dilapidated rental units and convert them into owner occupied housing units. And we've expanded that definition. Uh, that currently is cities of the first and second class, so that's cities of 65,000, um, and above. That's the current definition from last year. This would bring in, uh, the cities of Midvale, South, Salt Lake, Logan, Richfield, Cedar City, and Illa. And these are all cities that have, uh, in addition to the housing, um, uh, homeless Resource Center, they also have older housing stock. And so this provides the opportunity if they see fit, um, to provide these dollars to facilitate the conversion of rental units into owner occupied units. Uh, so with that, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to take any questions.

  5. Committee chair (presiding)1:50:08

     Uh, if there are any questions about the language that's in the substitute, Why don't you stand by and I'll finish the presentation. Then the committee will have some questions potentially. Next, we have Make Utah Bank. So Shane, you have someone from the governor's office. I thought that they weren't gonna be here, but that's okay.

  6. Jackson Last, Utah Bankers Association1:50:23

     Hi. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Jackson Last, I represent the Utah Bankers Association. Um, we've been working with Senator Stratton, and we want to thank him for his work on this. Um, the Utah Homes Investment Program was created to help facilitate, um, building some new homes and, uh, allow banks and credit unions to draw on, uh, some of these funds. The problem, there's a lot of stipulations connected to this, so, um, some banks were, they just didn't feel like it was worth it. Um, and the biggest stipulation that was keeping people from using it was that cap. Um, it just didn't make sense for banks to make loans at that rate. Um, very few developers could qualify for the kind of loans that we're talking about. Um, so we're excited for the changes that this makes. We think this will facilitate a little bit more use of the fund and hopefully, um, help us to build some more homes. Banks want to be, um, you know, helpful in, in carrying that out. Uh, but, you know, it has to make sense for our members to do so, and so we think that this will help them do that. Thank you.

  7. Committee chair (presiding)1:51:27

     Thank you. Now we have, uh, someone in the governor's office. Former representative, I'll let him introduce himself.

  8. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office1:51:34

     Hi, Steve Walter governor's office. Pleasure to be back here again. Let's Gal of this guy out of order. Yeah, I just throw me out now and you'll do us all a favor. Uh, really appreciate the opportunity to be here and support this bill. The sponsor's done a great job. We've heard great explanation. You know, I think it, it, uh, goes without saying that we've got, uh, funds that we've saved as a state. These are taxpayer funds, Utah taxpayers, we wanna put that money back to work in Utah for Utah families. And that's what this bill does. And then we're gonna measure that impact so we can see if we wanna do more. Um, so really appreciate that, uh, uh, opportunity

  9. Committee chair (presiding)1:52:09

     to be here today to support this bill. Great. Thank you.

  10. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office1:52:12

      Thank you. Thank you, chair. Uh, I guessing to conclude my presentation, my father would always say the, the, and the good chair knows my family, but the, the, he would say there's no wiser investment than taken care of. And using, using what you have already in the best way possible, that's what this does. We have these funds, they're set aside. They're, they're sitting, we could invest them. Yeah, we could invest them in McDonald's, in China or whatever, you know, but this is Utah first. Utah first. And, uh, uh, that, that, that, that's the spirit of it. And these are, these are two, is this, there's not a fiscal note because we've already set the money aside, but this allows the, the opportunity to, with appropriate oversight, certainly, and, and guardrails to allow them, allow these resources available to address a concern that we're hearing one of the top concerns. I know that one of the house, one of the major priorities of the house is affordable housing. And, and, uh, this addresses many of those issues. So be glad to answer any questions. Thank you.

  11. Committee chair (presiding)1:53:21

      We do have, we'll, we'll close, uh, um, the presentation, bring it back to the committee for questions. Representative

  12. Rep. Tom Cutler1:53:28

      Cutler, Mr. Chair, I have a question for Mr. Waldrop, if that's okay. Uh, Mr. Waler, we have a lot of housing programs and, uh, I wasn't, I'm not very familiar with the Utah Homes Investment Program. Could you explain how much money is there and what the intent was? And, and I think I understand where it's, where it's going, but just a, a quick reminder of how that compares with the other housing programs we have.

  13. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office1:53:53

      You bet. So, uh, two years ago, um, the legislature set aside a $300 million fund for investment into starter homes with some stipulations. This money was available for construction loans and for cities to use them to rehabilitate and provide, uh, starter homes for, um, residents of their cities. Um, so that started two years ago. The uptake on it has been very slow. Um, as, as you've heard from the lenders, um, it's been challenging for them to get this to work within the parameters that they've established. Um, so this takes a portion of that and, um, and uses that for, um, uh, for rehabilitation of homes within our cities. Um, the initial ideal of that was to create construction financing that was not currently available for mid-size builders. And it's been tough. Um, Utah Housing Corporation has, uh, several condominium applications in process right now for the use of some of that money. And I anticipate that we'll put out probably 50 million of that in the next few months for starter condos within our state. Um, so there's good things happening, but the challenge with housing, uh, Mr. Chair is that, uh, it's a slow burn. Um, and, and it takes time for lenders and builders and developers to get together on these things. And so we're starting to see some of the fruits, that initial effort And, and this fund was again, basically money we borrowed from the TIF fund that from the TIFF that we be re repaid rep Back To the tiff. Similar to what we're doing is, is it completely separate from the money we've talked about allocating for? Um, I don't remember the, the bill number from, from Cal Roberts. 4 92. 4 92. So 4 92 actually takes a hundred million of that, hundred million of that, that's already even out and it converts it to longer term funding. Got it. That's, um, and so 200 million is left in sort of the short term pot, um, for construction loans. A hundred million will now be available for longer term infrastructure level, uh, regionally significant infrastructure projects, which again, is another piece that we're missing in the puzzle. But what this allows us to do, Mr. Vice chair, is to, um, to put some parameters on what is built using, um, using that money either directly or indirectly. And so that allows us to create starter homes using that.

  14. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:56:24

      And, and prior to this, you, you put very strict stipulations on what the interest rate could be. I don't see those stipulations here, but you're still, uh, are all these proposed loans would still flow through the, the, the credit unions and the banks, correct?

  15. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office1:56:40

      Not, not a direct Loan. Uh, yeah, absolutely. So, so the, and that was one of the critical points is that the lenders are the credit unions bank. The underwriting is done by the credit unions and the bank. They are on the hook for those loans. So if those projects fail, it does not affect taxpayer funding. If the bank would have to fail in order for the taxpayers to be at any risk and within the Money Management Act, there's actually limits on how much a bank can borrow from the state, how much, how much of a deposit a bank can take from the state. Because of those, we, we don't want to absorb too much of that risk. So all of those protections are critical in there because we don't want to put the taxpayer money at risk here. We want industry and, and lenders to do their job. We're just trying to facilitate the right, the, the outcomes that are harder to get in the open market right now, which is, again, if you're gonna, if you're a lender and you're gonna lend or a builder and you can build thing A and make 50 grand and build thing B and make 200 grand, you will always build thing B. And, and we need a lot more of thing A. And so that's what we're trying to, uh, to, to create an incentive around.

  16. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:57:50

      Seems like a good improvement.

  17. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office1:57:52

      It's, it's a good improvement. I would just note, if I may, it's line 1 56 to 1 58 on the substitute that removes that cap. That, that, that, that's the specific language. And again, this is, this is free market principles here. We're, we're, we have the, we wise government would say that you're, you are, you are taxing a level that allows you to have, have resources available for the needs that come in the short term. And, and that's what we're using. Those, those, the, the transportation infrastructure fund, that those are source of funds. 15 million of the 300 w has been used in the first, uh, since that it was implemented in 2024. So year and half, the year and a half year. This is believed now to open up the, open it up and make it more available and, uh, for free market uses putting all the risk in the free market. So thank you.

  18. Committee chair (presiding)1:58:58

      Great. Thank you. Representative Cutler. Representative Shelley,

  19. Rep. Troy Shelley1:59:02

      I think. Thank you. Um, so I, I just have a couple of questions. One is, so I, I've seen a, uh, an agreement that the state had where they borrowed money to, through a, through a, I guess a public private partnership, but the repayment wasn't due for 30 days or 30 years was the first payment due. So I'm curious what these type of agreements will look like. And, and also just a just curious, just if you could address this, um, it seems to me that when we, when we, uh, incentivize by saying, you know, we'll give you $20,000 for down payment on a house, um, it seems to me like that's a good down payment for getting into a house, but the price of the house could go up by 20,000. So if, if you could just address that. 'cause that's my concern. I'm, I'm afraid that as, as the government continues to infuse money into the housing market, the housing market keeps going up. So if, if you could just address those.

  20. Sen. Keven J. Stratton2:00:12

      One of the principle of fractional lending is if, if they have deposits in the bank, the bank is motivated using their premise. By, by the way, Utah has, you know, we have the golden standard for our banking. We're looked to as, as, as a leader across the United States, throughout the world, actually we have one of the strongest banking systems. It's really remarkable, little known fact, but just one of the other ways. And what you're doing is, is one of the segue things to meet the demand that's there you, we need, we need an additional billion dollars of investments that will turn into several billion dollars through fractional lending. The, the issue of the housing market is a ma matter of scarcity and resources in terms of infrastructure and the opportunity to get the materials to do, do the construction. So this is addressing from, from my perspective, I'll let, we can let the bank association also, so our, our good director this, this, what this does is it, it, it's, it's a mechanism to not fuel the price, increase the price, but do the opposite to make more avail, more supply available that will bring the price down. And we're not giving anybody any money like the 20 thou or whatever it is that's not part of the program. And it's, it's not based upon, uh, the terms and conditions.

  21. Unknown speaker2:01:52speaker not certain

      You'll note note here on lying 210 of the sub that the money is due back in 2029. Good, thank you.

  22. Steve Waldrip, Governor's Office2:02:04

      I just echo that. These are two year loans, uh, through the treasurer. Um, they're on the supply side, not on the demand side. So these are loans to, for construction of additional supply. Um, this has no tie to any demand side programming.

  23. Sen. Keven J. Stratton2:02:21

      Thank You. Let me say one more thing that's an interesting, uh, point in this. If I may chair. Sorry. And that's a question a point, a data point is we have over 109,000 doors approved in a few of our, of our cities. Not all of 'em. The, the League of Cities can expand on that. It's a but in a, so it's not a matter of zoning, it's not a matter of, now there are lands that we, I, we know we can do. Land is another aspect of it, but it's the, it's the, the, it's the capital in the market that we need. We need the lever and we need also the infrastructure, which, which the other bill is addressing. But this can be used for infrastructure as well, horizontal as well as the vertical.

  24. Committee chair (presiding)2:03:06

      Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Representative Shelley. Okay. I don't see any further, uh, light. So we will open this to the public for comment. Is there anyone from the public that would like to make a comment on this bill? Okay. We'll close public comment and bring it back to the committee for, um, action.

  25. Committee chair (presiding)2:03:27

      And, and a reminder that we do have a first sub is the first sub or second sub First. Sub first. Sub first. Sub First. Sub Representative. Cutler.

  26. Rep. Paul A. Cutler2:03:38

      Mr. Chair. I'd be happy to favorably recommend, uh, SB 2 27, 2 77. Or excuse me, I'd happy to move the first sub on SB 2 77.

  27. Committee chair (presiding)2:03:47

      Great. So the motion is to, uh, adopt first sub, uh, SB 2 77. Would you like to speak to that motion? I, I

  28. Unknown speaker2:03:55speaker not certain

      Like, I like this. I think it gives, uh, uh, some expanded, uh, capabilities, especially to those cities that have shelters and, uh, also have some other challenges with affordable housing.

  29. Committee chair (presiding)2:04:06

      Great. Thank you very much. Um, discussion to the motion to adopt first sub. Seeing none will go to the sponsor. I'll Waive. Thank you for the discussion. Yeah, Sponsor waived. So we'll bring it back to the make of the motion. Waived summation has been waived. Um, the motion before us is to adopt first substitute SB 2 77. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

  30. Committee chair (presiding)2:04:28

      That motion passes. The substitute is before US Representative Keller. I'll, I'll continue. And,

  31. Rep. Paul A. Cutler2:04:35

      uh, favor, make a motion to favorably recommend first substitute SB 2 77, and be happy to speak to that.

  32. Committee chair (presiding)2:04:43

      Yeah, that motion is, is in order, so go ahead and speak to that.

  33. Unknown speaker2:04:46speaker not certain

      I appreciate the sponsor and the team working to find ways to take this money that already, that had been set aside for housing and, and, uh, um, use it in a way that is more effective. Um, looking forward to seeing the results, seeing if this is, uh, a way we can crack this housing, not

  34. Committee chair (presiding)2:05:04

      Great. Thank you, uh, representative. So the motion before us is to favorably recommend, uh, first substitute SB 2 77. Discussion to that motion. Seeing none will go to the sponsor.

  35. Sen. Keven J. Stratton2:05:17

      I'll just want to thank the, all the stakeholders have weighed in on this, you know, from our, uh, uh, uh, treasurer to, uh, some specialists throughout the state and the witnesses and who they represent. So, thank you.

  36. Committee chair (presiding)2:05:30

      Thank you. Back to the maker of the motion waive. Okay. Submiss motion has been waived. Um, the motion before us is to favorably recommend first substitute SB 2 77. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That motion passes six to one. Thank you.

  37. Committee chair (presiding)2:05:49

      Representative Hansen voting. No. So, thanks, Senator. Um, do I see Senator Fillmore? Just kidding.

• Mar 4, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (11 turns)

  1. Floor clerk1:01:53

     Mad Meeting Clerk First substitute Senate Bill 2 77, Utah Homes Investment Program Amendments by Senator Stratton. This bill was assert in Economic Development and Workforce Services with vote of 6 1 3. The house sponsors representative Val Peterson, Representative Val Peterson.

  2. Rep. Val L. Peterson1:02:11

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, representatives we're in the midst of an attainable housing shortage. As you know, the governor established a goal of 35,000 new homes in the state of Utah to help with this shortage. Too many of our representative, too many of the people in our state are, are, uh, forced out of home ownership, which leads to a decline in social mobility. And too many utahns are being forced to leave the state. As the private market has worked to help address this issue, it has run into barriers of having enough capital to meet those housing goals. In 2024, uh, this body passed legislation creating the Utah Homes Investment Program. And with that was the intent to spur the market into building more affordable homes. Uh, that was supposed to happen through low interest loans. And due to the constraints to that, on that bill, of the 300 million that was set aside for that program from the tiff, only $15 million has been loaned out. So 2 77 addresses those shortcomings. It, uh, makes the program more attainable. It's more attractive to lenders. It takes the cap off of the financial institutions. And so it removes that 150 basis cap Loan committees were unwilling to loan to lenders for this program because of the capital risk. And working with small builders who this program is targeted towards. By removing that cap, it gives banks more flexibility. It's allowed them to price their loans to fit their risk profile. The other thing that removing the cap does is it also extends the Sunset of this program from 2028 to 2029. So that money for the TIF doesn't have to be repaid back until 2029. With that, uh, these program, this program will still have strong fiscal safeguards. Deposits still must be repaid with interest regardless of the project completion. Annual reporting to the legislature continues and the program still remains time limited with a Sunset date. These changes just make the goals of the program more obtainable. So as you look at that, you'll see some changes such as single family unit to residential units. It makes it so multifamily family housing development projects meet this specific criteria. If you look at qualified projects that, uh, those can happen in cities, 60% of those qualified projects have to be affordable homes, attainable homes. And, uh, so as we look at this program, as we look at, uh, trying to establish 35,000 new homes in the state, this, these adjustments to the Utah, uh, the Utah Homes Investment Program will help make that more affordable. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I'm open to questions.

  3. Speaker (presiding)1:05:13

     Thank you. Representative Val Peterson. Representative Brooks? Nope. Okay. Uh, thank you Representative Peterson. Uh, discussion to the bill Representative Board.

  4. Rep. Raymond P. Ward1:05:25

     Mark. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the sponsor yield Sponsor yield? Peter?

  5. Rep. Val L. Peterson1:05:29

     Yes. Representative board.

  6. Rep. Raymond P. Ward1:05:30

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I see that the, this bill extends out to some affordable rental properties as well as just in, in addition to home ownership. If I were building, uh, an affordable rental project, what percent of the units would have to be considered affordable?

  7. Rep. Val L. Peterson1:05:47

     Uh, I think one unit of the project, uh, has to be 80% of the median income. So Even if there were a hundred units in the project, it would be considered an affordable project if only one of the units was affordable. That's my understanding. Okay.

  8. Rep. Raymond P. Ward1:06:00

     That, that seems a little bit low to consider the whole project affordable, I think.

  9. Speaker (presiding)1:06:08

     Thank you, Representative Ward. Further discussion to the bill. Seeing none. Back to your, seeing none. Back to you, Representative Peterson for summation.

  10. Rep. Val L. Peterson1:06:21

      Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this, uh, what this bill is trying to do is make, uh, attainable homes more affordable for people in the state of Utah. It, uh, is trying to take off some of the caps and limitations that were originally created in the Utah Home Investment Program to be able to, to make it so that more people can take advantage of this program so that more of the $300 million can be loaned out. And with that, that completes my presentation, Mr. Speaker.

  11. Speaker (presiding)1:06:50

      Thank you. Representative Peterson. Uh, voting will now be open on first substitute. 77. All president. Having voted ye now closed, substitute SB 2 77 fails to pass this body with nine yes votes. 61 no votes will be returned to the Senate for filing. Mad Clerk