This is your daily news rundown for Wednesday, Sept. 9. In this edition:
- Almost no renters in Utah can afford to buy a home, according to a new study
- The University of Utah is cutting 5-15% of jobs in the next year
- A new shuttle route connecting Moab and Arches National Park opened this week
Less than 10% of Utah renters can afford to buy a home, study finds
Almost no renters in Utah can afford to buy a home, despite some housing market stabilization.
That’s according to a Kem C. Gardener Policy Institute study released on Wednesday.
It found that the annual income needed to purchase a median-priced home fell slightly in the first half of this year.
But medium home sale prices also increased slightly, up to $520,000. That’s over twice as much as a year ago.
The study said that price is out of reach for 91% of renters in Utah.
Job cuts at the University of Utah could affect up to 800 positions
The University of Utah plans to cut 5-15% of its employees in the next year.
That equates to anywhere from 300 to over 800 positions. University officials said impacted positions will be primarily in advancement, followed by departments like HR, finance, and IT.
The university said the move is not because of the recent 10% federal funding cuts. Instead, they said they’re trying to plan for the future amid “some of the most significant challenges in its 176-year history.”
Some cuts will happen as employees leave naturally, while others will require positions to be eliminated. The goal is to finish implementing those cuts by the end of the fiscal year next June.
A new shuttle route is connecting Moab and Arches National Park
There’s a new shuttle bus route connecting Moab and Arches National Park.
The service’s inaugural ride left the Moab information center at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, with full service starting Thursday morning.
The shuttle makes several stops between Moab and Arches and is free for those with a national parks pass.
It will run daily until Oct. 31, then pick back up in the spring.
