(upbeat music) - IJ and Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center is hosting "The Unhoused: An Expert Panel Discussion on the Homeless Crisis."

Salt Lake Tribune reporter, Jose Davila IV is here to tell us about this important event.

Jose, hi, thanks so much for being here.

- Thanks for having me, Mary.

- Yeah, so you've kind of become a go-to person on the issue from your reporting at the paper, and you'll be moderating this panel.

Tell us about the panel and the panelists.

- So the panel will be all about Utah's homelessness crisis, and we're gonna have Wayne Niederhauser, the State Homeless Services coordinator, sorry, the State Homeless Services, sorry, the State Homeless coordinator.

We'll also have a historian, we'll have a trio of nonprofit leaders both in housing and in healthcare.

- Wow, I mean, it's big, but, then again, the issue is a big issue.

So talk a little about the issue, and I know homelessness is growing, why and what can be done about it?

- So yes, homelessness is certainly growing.

We are seeing some more shelter beds and deeply affordable housing come online.

I expect our panelists to talk more about that.

But really, it stems from a housing crisis as well, right?

There's not a lot of affordable housing left in the Salt Lake Valley across the entire Wasatch Front.

So, that's driving a lot of homelessness here, and I think we're gonna hear from panelists about what are some creative solutions, and what are some basic ways to really ameliorate some of those concerns, - Right, because everybody kind of has a different idea of how to go about this.

It's not an easy one.

- No, it's not an easy one, and we're gonna have folks from all kinds of different programs and services, and then we'll have Wayne Niederhauser who will kind of have the top down, big picture view, and I think that'll be really helpful for the public to learn about all these different puzzle pieces, and how they may or may not fit together.

- Yeah, okay, well, it sounds great.

Thank you for putting it together.

Thanks for moderating, and thanks for being here.

- No problem, thanks for having me.

- And if you would like to know more about that upcoming panel at the Jewish Community Center, "The Unhoused: A Panel Discussion on the Homeless Crisis," it's March 12th at seven o'clock at the Jewish Community Center.

Go to community@slcjcc.org.

You've got RSVP, so don't forget.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact."

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