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Jen Frodsham counts herself lucky.
For $655 a month, the 34-year-old lives alone in a spacious one-bedroom apartment in east Salt Lake City’s coveted 9th and 9th neighborhood — a steal of a deal in a city where the average cost for such a unit runs nearly double.
“My friend pays about as much, maybe a little less,” she said, “for just a bedroom inside of an apartment with friends in Millcreek.”
Still, Frodsham has had struggles. The problem wasn’t her desirable rent. It was, until recently, her less-than-desirable paycheck. Her part-time employment paid $20 an hour, which covered the rent but little else. So she juggled a few jobs on the side to pay for groceries and the occasional camping trip to southern Utah.
During the current housing chaos, the challenge for Frodsham, like many other Utahns, isn’t just mushrooming mortgages and rising rents, but also lagging wages.
Nearly 1 in 5 Utahns are severely cost-burdened, spending half or more of their income on housing, according to federal data. Experts advise that no one should pay more than 30% on housing costs.
In the current market,...
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