SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to start building a master-planned tiny home community to house the homeless — and have some homes ready for move-in before winter sets in this year.
To pull it off, the mayor announced a new partnership with a familiar nonprofit that she lauded as having a proven track record of helping those who are homeless, battling substance abuse or who carry a criminal record to turn their lives around, all "while being a positive neighbor": The Other Side Academy.
"This is a huge step forward in this project," Mendenhall said in a news conference outside the Salt Lake City-County building. "We're moving at light speed here, given the scope and urgency of the challenge we've had to do that. It's gone from concept to execution in less than a year. And I think that's a testament to the commitment of this capital city and to our partners to confront the reality and the complexity of the issues we face surrounding homelessness."