After nearly a decade of growth, street homelessness in Salt Lake County may finally be in decline. The latest data from Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness’s annual counts of homeless individuals and housing inventory offers several early indicators of success for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s “public safety plan” and state legislative reforms, both of which prioritized enforcement of anti-camping laws — policies which critics have argued would make the problem worse.
Earlier, as of 2023, unsheltered homelessness in Salt Lake County had grown 62% compared to pre-pandemic levels — rising at six times the rate of sheltered homelessness over that period. An unprecedented number of homeless encampments appeared in parks, along trails and in vacant lots and buildings.
State lawmakers took notice of this growing public health and safety crisis and enacted reforms in the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions. In response to these reforms and public pressure from Gov. Spencer Cox and legislative leaders, Mendenhall signaled that the Salt Lake City Police Department would prioritize enforcement of its public order ordinances, such as prohibitions against unsanctioned camping…