The Democratic primary election for Utah’s First Congressional District is June 23. Do you know where your favorite candidate stands on the issues? City Cast Salt Lake sent a survey to all four candidates, so you can compare. Here’s their take on affordability.
Answers are fact checked (see editor’s notes) but unedited, and candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Cost of living is top of mind for Salt Lakers. Gas prices are up, grocery prices are up, and local consumer sentiment is at its lowest since 2023. What's the first thing you would propose to make life more affordable for Utahns?
- Blouin: "The first thing I'd push for is raising the federal minimum wage to at least $20 an hour and indexing it to the cost of living. The federal minimum is still $7.25. It hasn't been raised since 2009. I sponsored legislation in the State Senate to fix that, because it's unacceptable that working families watch the price of groceries, gas, and rent climb while their paychecks stand still. A day's work should cover a dignified life. In Utah right now, it doesn't come close."
- Farrell: "First, I will drive down the cost of healthcare through universal healthcare. Nearly 1 in 12 adults has medical debt, and a single hospital stay can wipe out a lifetime of savings. I have lived this. My mom fell ill with a terminal disease when I was 21 and left a short hospital stay with a $150,000 bill. That is a system that is too broken to be fixed. It is a system that needs to be fundamentally reshaped. We are the richest country on Earth. We can afford nice things, including healthcare."
- McAdams: "I’d stop making Utah families pick up the tab for bad choices in Washington. Trump’s tariffs raise prices on food, gas, and everyday goods. War in the Middle East drives costs even higher. Tax breaks for billionaires propel the wealthy further ahead while the rest of us fall behind. I’d work to end the war in Iran, end reckless tariffs, close corporate loopholes, protect health care tax credits, lower drug costs, raise the minimum wage and invest in housing, child care, and good-paying jobs."
- Mohamed: "When elected to Congress I will support a federal affordability package. This package will include policies such as: Medicare for All, Universal Pre-K and childcare, building more housing and preventing private equity from owning homes, relief and reform to our higher education loans system, and rent-stabilizing measures for fast-growing economies. It is time the federal government steps up to ensure the prosperity of its citizens."
Utah's primary approach to housing affordability has been supply/demand — the idea that if we build more housing, it will lower prices by lowering demand. What other strategies would you support at the congressional level to make housing more affordable?
- Blouin: "Building more housing matters, but the private market alone will never solve this crisis. We need to repeal the Faircloth Amendment so the federal government can build public housing again. We also need to ban the algorithmic price-fixing software corporate landlords use to coordinate rent hikes, crack down on private equity firms treating homes like financial instruments, and pass the Place to Prosper Act to curb unjust rent hikes and evictions. Housing is for people, not profits."
- Farrell: "Wall Street is buying homes faster than working families can compete*. I will work to increase funding for affordable housing to be sold at cost to first-time homebuyers. I will also ban hedge funds and corporations from owning single-family homes, force existing corporate-owned houses back onto the market, convert the mortgage interest deduction into a refundable tax credit, fund $20,000 in downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers, and create a refundable renter’s tax credit."
- McAdams: "Supply matters, but it isn’t enough. I serve on a national housing crisis task force and advise cities and states on urban infill strategies to activate land near transit for affordable housing. I’ve published these ideas, helped draft legislation, and built relationships needed to get it done. In Congress, I’d turn that work into long-term affordability protections, cutting red tape to make it easier to manufacture modular homes, and more homes in vibrant, walkable neighborhoods."
- Mohamed: "I will support legislation to ban corporate price-fixing algorithms for renters and restrict private equity ownership of housing. Expand federal affordable and social housing grants and incentivize first-time homeownership. Increase federal investment in social dense housing developments. Propose legislation to limit the number of units or acreage a person can own. And partner with state and local entities to cut unnecessary zoning barriers and accelerate the development of affordable housing."
Editor’s note: *Michael Farrell's claim that "Wall Street is buying homes faster than working families can compete" needs more context. Real estate website Redfin recently reported investor home purchases nationally have fallen to their lowest level since 2020. In Utah, Axios reported last year that investor home purchases have decreased — though they've held steady in Salt Lake City.
As housing prices have increased, so has Utah's homeless population. State leaders support a treatment-first approach, where individuals are compelled into mental health and substance use treatment, versus housing first, where treatment is voluntary. Which approach do you support and why?
- Blouin: "I support Housing First. Homelessness is fundamentally a housing crisis, people can’t get ahead until they have a stable place to live, and I know that first-hand. Compelled treatment is a punitive model that’s consistently failed to make communities safer or healthier. We need to invest in voluntary mental health and addiction services, expand affordable housing, and send trained social workers, not police, to respond to people in crisis. Dignity and stability get better outcomes than coercion."
- Farrell: "Housing First, and it’s not close. Decades of evidence show that stable housing is the foundation for everything else. People in stable housing complete treatment at higher rates, hold jobs, and reunite with families. Utah’s own pilot programs have shown that you can’t compel someone into recovery*. I will direct federal funding to permanent supportive housing, not coerced institutionalization."
- McAdams: "As mayor, I helped reform our homelessness system and led the fight to expand Medicaid so people could access mental health and substance-use treatment**. I support Housing First. I oppose the proposed Salt Lake City homelessness mega campus. That approach reverses the hard work and progress I made when I was mayor. I support enforcing no-camping laws and keeping communities safe, but we must simultaneously provide adequate shelter, treatment, and real places for people to go."
- Mohamed: "It’s hard to force anyone to do anything, and unless that person wants that change for themselves, compelling them to change will not end in long-term results. We also know that what gives people the most stability is a place to call home. At the end of the day, I believe that the only right answer here is a housing first approach. One of the core promises in my agenda is that housing should be a human right, this should not change just because one faces more or certain difficulties in life."
Editor’s note: *Michael Farrell's claim that "Utah’s own pilot programs have shown that you can’t compel someone into recovery" — it's unclear what programs he's referring to. Operation Rio Grande (see below) had a drug court option to funnel people into treatment in exchange for clearing their criminal charges.
**Ben McAdams' claim that he "helped reform our homelessness system" during his time as Salt Lake County mayor needs more context. As mayor, McAdams supported Operation Rio Grande (ORG), the state-led homelessness effort that primarily focused on law enforcement. It was followed by the closure of the large Road Home shelter and a transition to the scattered-site model for homeless resource centers. Critics of ORG call it "Operation Leaf Blower"; essentially, that it moved the unsheltered population from downtown to other neighborhoods.
Want to dig even deeper? Follow these links to read more responses from the candidates:
