Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones (HTRZ)

In the 2025 legislative session, the Legislature passed S.B. 26 Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone Amendments 2025. This bill provides changes and additional clarity to the HTRZ process, including: 

• Requires that an HTRZ proposal demonstrate, not just promote, how objectives will be accomplished
• Requires at least 25% of dwelling units in an HTRZ to have more than one bedroom
• Enables an expanded radius (½ mile) for an HTRZ in a second-class city within an opportunity zone
• Moves the tax increment notice deadline to December 31 of the year before collection begins
• Requires HTRZ proposal to include estimated budgets and more specificity on finances

These changes are effective May 7, 2025.

Click here for the bill summary from Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) of the 2025 amendments.

Yes. The office also administers the FHIZ program. The HTRZ and FHIZ programs follow similar timelines and processes and are both reviewed by the HTRZ committee.

Click here for more information about FHIZ.

Click here to see Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC)’s HTRZ & FHIZ comparison sheet.

Utah municipalities have access to other state programs that promote affordable housing, not administered by the office, including the Home Ownership Promotion Zone (HOPZ).

Click here for the Utah League of Cities and Towns’ comparison of affordable housing funding tools sheet.

Interested municipalities are encouraged to consult Utah Code (63N-23-2) regarding how an HTRZ plan can be developed to meet statutory requirements before official proposal submission. The following application best practices include proposals that outline and consider:

• An executive summary that includes the number of acres, number and percentage of affordable housing units, and the percentage, duration, and amount of tax differential of funding proposed.
• An Affordable Housing Plan in an HTRZ proposal that outlines how the HTRZ will meet the definition of “affordable” through the term of the HTRZ (at minimum) and may include deed restrictions.
• A summary of how a status quo or market-driven plan would be different as compared with the HTRZ proposal according to the number of units per acre for residential and commercial use.
• A summary of how the amount of tax differential would address costs directly associated with parking for dense residential construction, affordable housing, and other uses.
• A summary of the amount of tax revenue generated between the status quo or market-driven plan as compared with the HTRZ proposal.
• An outline of how the HTRZ proposal demonstrates the statutory objectives outlined in 63N-23-201(1).
• Site plan overlaying the location of the transit station, a radius of the HTRZ area, and the parcels of land within the proposed area to create a sales and use tax boundary.
• Visual renderings or other visual aids to assist with how the HTRZ area will look and function with the various aspects and modes of transportation, housing, and retail.
• A list of assumptions of market rates, such as material and labor costs, vacancy rates, costs of capital, and other information useful for assessing the plan.
• A pro forma estimating the gap between status quo or market-driven plan, used by reference to the summaries found in the narrative sections.
• Provides estimated budgets and construction costs, anticipated revenue, financing, expenses, and other sources and uses of funds for the project area.
• Other information relevant to the support of statutory requirements.

An HTRZ can only be initiated by a municipality or public transit county. A private entity can consult their local municipality or public transit county to see if an HTRZ may be appropriate.

Revenue from the tax increment must be used for the direct benefit of the HTRZ. Funding can help with income-targeted housing and structured parking costs, enhanced development and construction costs, land purchase costs, or a portion of the costs a municipality faces when creating and administering the HTRZ.

During the 2026 Legislative session, H.B. 507 authorized the use of HTRZ funds for extraterritorial affordable housing.

“Enhance development costs” means extra costs associated with structured parking costs, vertical construction costs, horizontal construction costs, life safety costs, structural costs, conveyor or elevator costs, and other costs incurred due to the increased height of buildings or enhanced development.

Yes. The maximum number of HTRZs at light rail stations is eight in any given county. Within a county of the first class, the maximum number of HTRZs at bus rapid stations is three.

63N-23-103. Notice requirements.

Within 30 days after the HTRZ Committee approves a housing and transit reinvestment zone, the municipality or public transit county is required to do the following:

• Record with the county recorder where the HTRZ is located a document containing a description of the land, statement of approval, and date of adoption.
• Transmit to the Utah Geospatial Resource Center a description of the land and an accurate map or plat indicating the HTRZ boundaries.
• Transmit a copy of the HTRZ proposal, map and description of the land to the following:
  • The auditor, recorder, attorney, surveyor, and assessor of the county in which any part of the HTRZ is located
  • The officer or officers performing the function of auditor or assessor for each taxing entity that does not use the county assessment roll or collect the taxing entity’s taxes through the county
  • The legislative body or governing board of each taxing entity
  • The Tax Commission
  • The State Board of Education

Utah Code Section 59-3-301. TIF entity reporting requirements. 

For a newly created HTRZ:

To comply with reporting requirements for a newly created Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone (HTRZ), the TIF entity (either the municipality or public transit county) must submit the following items to the STATS program by January 1 of the year following the HTRZ's creation:

• The project area plan
• The project area budget
• All applicable interlocal agreements
• A map of each project area

Ongoing TIF Reporting Requirement:

Beginning January 1, 2028, and every year thereafter, a TIF entity (either the municipality or public transit county) must submit a summary of the progress of each TIF project area to the STATS program as outlined in statute.