In recent years, the state of Utah had seen the confluence of the worst housing factors in its history. Though the rental sphere has experienced incremental improvements, homeownership still lagged with insufficient inventory and barriers to access. To get homeownership in Utah back on track, the state REALTOR® association launched an ambitious effort to secure legislative policy – and called it just that. An Issues Mobilization grant from the REALTOR® Party helped the ‘Getting Homeownership in Utah Back on Track’ campaign boost a major victory for existing and aspiring homeowners, with a whopping eleven priority bills signed into law this spring.
The initiative involved heavy lifting by UAR’s Legislative Committee, which met weekly to evaluate bills according to the association’s stated policy, and actively engaged lawmakers with their support, reports Cate Klundt, Utah REALTORS®’ Government Affairs Director. The rest of the campaign focused on arming REALTOR® members and brokerages with the information they needed to educate others about the importance of homeownership, and lobby elected officials for the pro-homeownership bills on the table.
The association strengthened its team of grassroots advocates through a series of events and member-facing marketing campaigns. Early in January, it hosted a policy summit attended by the Governor and House and Senate leadership. The following month, REALTOR® Day on the Hill drew over 450 members to the capitol to rally for favored housing policies. Klundt and her team established a website and a series of digital ads, and, in an old-school touch, they revived ‘Broker Boxes,’ a concept they’d developed during Covid to disseminate an abundance of printed information along with goodies like local chocolates. Members responded and rose to the occasion, underscoring the advocacy efforts of leadership with their voices from across the state.
“The success of this whole effort, in addition to the legislative win for homeownership, is that it strengthened our relationship with our brokers and engaged our members with our advocacy efforts for the whole range of our housing issues,” states Klundt. “It showed them not just how we’re working for them, but also that we need them!”
The new legislation falls into four distinct categories: improving industry practices; encouraging good governance; increasing housing supply and reducing production barriers; and protecting the rights of private property owners.
One of the most exciting accomplishments, according to Klunt, is the impending development of excess state-owned land parcels discovered through the Utah Department of Transportation. “It’s pretty common, in the natural course of developing a transit project, that some of the land the state has acquired, through empirical demand or other means, remains unused. We’re not talking about massive acreage, but a couple of acres near a train station or bus station, throughout towns and cities all over the state – that adds up. This land already has infrastructure in place; the cost is already in, so the cost to develop it is lower. Many of these parcels are also downtown-infill locations, so developing them as affordable condos will also increase housing density, so it’s really a win-win!”
Another major initiative achieved in the raft of housing legislation passed this session is a $20 million down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers, to be managed by the Utah Housing Corporation. An innovative distinction of this program is that its eligibility requirements will be more inclusive, explains Klundt; specifically, it will allow divorced mothers who had previously owned property with their husbands to apply for help. “Many women in Utah are stay-at-home moms, who, if they divorce and want to create a new stable home for their families, would not be eligible for first-time buyer assistance in most programs. We worked to make sure this new infusion of assistance money will be available to this population of homebuyers. It may seem like a small and specific demographic, but making these families eligible is the compassionate thing to do, and it’s something I’d like to see replicated across the country.”
To learn more about how the Utah Association of REALTORS® promoted legislative solutions for increased housing production, increased access to affordable housing, and increased protections for property owners, contact Government Affairs Director Cate Klundt at cate@utahrealtors.com or 801.676.5250. Keeping Legislative Attention Focused on Housing, Utah REALTORS® Achieve Passage of Priority Bills
September 2025
In recent years, the state of Utah had seen the confluence of the worst housing factors in its history. Though the rental sphere has experienced incremental improvements, homeownership still lagged with insufficient inventory and barriers to access. To get homeownership in Utah back on track, the state REALTOR® association launched an ambitious effort to secure legislative policy – and called it just that. An Issues Mobilization grant from the REALTOR® Party helped the ‘Getting Homeownership in Utah Back on Track’ campaign boost a major victory for existing and aspiring homeowners, with a whopping eleven priority bills signed into law this spring.
The initiative involved heavy lifting by UAR’s Legislative Committee, which met weekly to evaluate bills according to the association’s stated policy, and actively engaged lawmakers with their support, reports Cate Klundt, Utah REALTORS®’ Government Affairs Director. The rest of the campaign focused on arming REALTOR® members and brokerages with the information they needed to educate others about the importance of homeownership, and lobby elected officials for the pro-homeownership bills on the table.
The association strengthened its team of grassroots advocates through a series of events and member-facing marketing campaigns. Early in January, it hosted a policy summit attended by the Governor and House and Senate leadership. The following month, REALTOR® Day on the Hill drew over 450 members to the capitol to rally for favored housing policies. Klundt and her team established a website and a series of digital ads, and, in an old-school touch, they revived ‘Broker Boxes,’ a concept they’d developed during Covid to disseminate an abundance of printed information along with goodies like local chocolates. Members responded and rose to the occasion, underscoring the advocacy efforts of leadership with their voices from across the state.
“The success of this whole effort, in addition to the legislative win for homeownership, is that it strengthened our relationship with our brokers and engaged our members with our advocacy efforts for the whole range of our housing issues,” states Klundt. “It showed them not just how we’re working for them, but also that we need them!”
The new legislation falls into four distinct categories: improving industry practices; encouraging good governance; increasing housing supply and reducing production barriers; and protecting the rights of private property owners.
One of the most exciting accomplishments, according to Klunt, is the impending development of excess state-owned land parcels discovered through the Utah Department of Transportation. “It’s pretty common, in the natural course of developing a transit project, that some of the land the state has acquired, through empirical demand or other means, remains unused. We’re not talking about massive acreage, but a couple of acres near a train station or bus station, throughout towns and cities all over the state – that adds up. This land already has infrastructure in place; the cost is already in, so the cost to develop it is lower. Many of these parcels are also downtown-infill locations, so developing them as affordable condos will also increase housing density, so it’s really a win-win!”
Another major initiative achieved in the raft of housing legislation passed this session is a $20 million down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers, to be managed by the Utah Housing Corporation. An innovative distinction of this program is that its eligibility requirements will be more inclusive, explains Klundt; specifically, it will allow divorced mothers who had previously owned property with their husbands to apply for help. “Many women in Utah are stay-at-home moms, who, if they divorce and want to create a new stable home for their families, would not be eligible for first-time buyer assistance in most programs. We worked to make sure this new infusion of assistance money will be available to this population of homebuyers. It may seem like a small and specific demographic, but making these families eligible is the compassionate thing to do, and it’s something I’d like to see replicated across the country.”
To learn more about how the Utah Association of REALTORS® promoted legislative solutions for increased housing production, increased access to affordable housing, and increased protections for property owners, contact Government Affairs Director Cate Klundt at cate@utahrealtors.com or 801.676.5250.
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