Mask mandates and social distancing have long passed, but as Chris Parker stood in a room full of housing experts and leaders from other cities, he pointed out that Utah’s housing crunch might be the top lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That was about the time when many Utahns lost the ability to afford a home, including almost every average Salt Lake City resident. Nothing like it had ever happened, and it forced the need to invest in housing in ways Utah had never seen before, said Parker, co-director of the Perpetual Housing Fund , a Utah program that seeks to erase barriers in homeownership, as he stood on the 14th floor of the 515 Tower (515 E. 100 South) in Salt Lake City’s Central City neighborhood.

Utah leaders and housing experts gathered there Thursday to celebrate

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