San Juan County, Utah, worked with PC to complete a housing needs assessment for the region that provided updated information on affordable workforce housing and employment needs/statistics. The project required data collection on future needs for the entire county while simultaneously keeping in mind its individual communities, such as Blanding, Monticello, and the various towns in the Navajo Nation. Based on both current growth trends and a more optimistic population growth scenario, our team forecasts the county will need between 5,200 and 6,200 total housing units to meet demand by 2040. Our team also found that only 40% of households in the county can afford to buy an average priced home, and this percentage is even lower in specific areas of the county. While wages have grown and poverty has decreased in the county in recent years, we see relatively modest growth in employment over the last decade compared to Utah and the US, and the county’s ratio of jobs to housing units is very low with only slightly more units than total jobs. To address the identified issues, the report included a list of options to improve the housing situation of each San Juan County community according to their specific needs.
The full report can be read here:
