📣 PETITION SUMMARY:
 Salt Lake City is proposing to build a 1,300–1,600 bed homeless campus within its city limits—but directly on the border of North Salt Lake and the Foxboro neighborhood. This facility would sit just feet away from family homes, schools, and local businesses that had no say in this decision—and the consequences will fall on our community, not Salt Lake City.


🛑 WHY WE OPPOSE THIS LOCATION:


🧒 Too Close to Schools: The shelter is near Spectrum Academy, a school serving vulnerable and neurodiverse children, and within walking distance of neighborhoods full of young families.


🚨 Safety Concerns: High-capacity shelters like this are statistically associated with increases in crime, drug use, and emergency service demands—especially when placed in high-density residential areas without full wraparound support.


🏡 Impact on Families & Property: This location threatens the safety, peace, and property values of thousands of residents in North Salt Lake, Foxboro, Bountiful, and Woods Cross.


💰 Unsustainable Funding: The shelter reportedly has only two years of funding, raising serious concerns that Davis County residents will be left to shoulder the long-term burden.


🤝 Lack of Regional Collaboration: Though technically inside Salt Lake City limits, this project is being placed at the very edge of their boundary, shifting the consequences to neighboring cities that weren’t consulted.


📰 Why This Plan Puts Everyone at Risk—Including the Unhoused


According to a March 2025 article in Utah News Dispatch, state officials have publicly acknowledged that funding for this project is not fully secured. The article reports:

 “The state does not yet have adequate funding to operate the campus long-term, raising concerns about whether services like case management, security, and hygiene facilities will be fully staffed or sustainable.”

This means even the state recognizes that this shelter may open without the critical services needed to ensure stability or safety. Without long-term infrastructure in place, a 1,600-bed facility could quickly become overwhelmed—putting both shelter residents and nearby families at risk.

• There is no confirmed plan for ongoing staffing, security, case management, or behavioral health care.
• Consolidating so many vulnerable populations into a single location without guaranteed support systems increases the risk of chaos, not care.
• Neighborhoods like Foxboro, North Salt Lake, and Bountiful will bear the fallout of a poorly supported, unsustainable operation—even though we had no seat at the table. 


✅ WHAT WE'RE ASKING FOR:


We urge Salt Lake City leadership, including Mayor Erin Mendenhall, to:

• Immediately pause this project at its current location
• Involve North Salt Lake, Davis County, and impacted communities in transparent planning 
• Consider alternative locations that are less disruptive to families, schools, and small businesses
• Develop a long-term plan with full funding, support systems, and community input

✊ WE SUPPORT SOLUTIONS—BUT THIS LOCATION IS NOT ONE.


This petition is not anti-homelessness. It is a call for safety, transparency, and shared responsibility. Our neighborhoods deserve better than being treated as a buffer zone. 

Please sign and share to protect our community!  

https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/03/27/state-eminent-domain-power-location-for-new-homeless-campus/