Every renter evicted from two downtown Salt Lake City buildings after sale
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Dozens of renters are now looking for a place to live after they got eviction notices following the sale of their building.
The Annex and the Carlton Hotel off South Temple, near State Street in downtown Salt Lake City, have been sold to a Chicago company called Riker Capital.
“We’re like ‘somebody’s dropped a bomb,’ and everybody’s going a different direction,” said James McGuire, a tenant of 11 years at the Annex.
McGuire is a disabled veteran who said many of his neighbors are also retired or disabled.
“They’re putting about 40 people out on the street that are low income,” McGuire said.
The seller of the properties declined to talk to 2News. The buyer did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
I’ve talked to two rental agencies,” McGuire said. “They said, ‘If you’re not making $3,000 a month, it’s going to be real hard to find a place in Salt Lake City.”
The latest state report on affordable housing shows a shortage of more than 43,000 units for the very low income.
Options suggested by Janice Kimball, CEO of Housing Connect, include low-income people getting on a waitlist for subsidized housing. Her agency is a housing authority that administers Section 8 and other programs in Salt Lake County.
However, she said the wait is at least two to three years.
“We’ve got about 6,000 households on the waiting list for about 2,700 units,” she said, adding someone has to get off Section 8 for the next person to snag a spot.
Shorter-term options for people struggling to pay the bills include calling 211, which can connect people to resources. People in Salt Lake and Tooele counties are encouraged to apply online through Utah Community Action.
UCA will determine which programs people may qualify for, from COVID-19 rent relief to other rent, food and utility assistance programs.
Every county in Utah has a community action agency with a similar role.
The tenants of the two buildings were on month-to-month agreements, and they have to be out by the end of the month.
