The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch.

OGDEN — With a population approaching 89,000, this mountainside metro ranks as Utah’s eighth largest city. Yet Ogden shoulders its share of big-city challenges that include poverty, homelessness and aging infrastructure.

Ogden’s unsheltered population ranks second in the state, eclipsed only by the Salt Lake City area. In concert with several nonprofit organizations, Ogden has historically tried to address those needs, both with housing and case management. 

But rising poverty combined with the current affordable housing shortage has compounded this challenge. And an abrupt about-face in national, state and local policy that criminalizes homelessness may prove to be the biggest mountain of all to climb. In Ogden this tension is in stark relief — this past year the city shut down a project to bring housing to disabled homeless adults, but continues to fork out big bucks to GardaWorld, a private security company that critics say just pushes the homeless from one street to another. 

Shift in political will?

With four City Council seats on the ballot this November, Ogden’s competition between incumbents and fresh faces has sharpened — particularly in the East Central area that stretches from about 19th to 30th Streets and Harrison Boulevard to Adams Avenue.

This historic area unfolded as a bastion of century-old mansions that over decades deteriorated as they were converted into multi-family dwellings and low-cost rentals. 

About three decades ago, city administrators began acquiring properties with the goal of demolishing and reconstructing neighborhoods as funding and resources allowed.

That program — known as the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative — sparked controversy this March when the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, slammed the door on a Weber Housing Authority project that would have renovated the old Aspen Care Center in East Central to house and treat 25 homeless adults.

The reason? That block was destined for another Quality Neighborhoods project. The March RDA vote came down 5-0 for Ogden City to buy the property from the Weber Housing Authority for $2.2 million — after the Weber Housing Authority had invested years in getting approvals from Ogden’s Planning Commission. 

The structure is now slated for demolition to one day help make way for seven new single-family homes that, depending on market forces, could be priced out of reach of many Ogden households.

Unintended gentrification?

The council’s decision to derail the long planned homeless center was the spark for Alicia Washington, a resident of East Central, to challenge three-term incumbent council member Marcia White for Ogden’s At-Large A seat. 

When asked at a July candidate forum how she proposed to house the unsheltered population in Ogden, Washington advocated for a humane and compassionate approach, but said little would happen without political will. 

“Until we can have seven (City Council) people that all agree that (the unsheltered) are community members and that we lead with dignity, and that we are not going to outsource this problem to GardaWorld (a private security company) to try to sanitize our city, then we can move the dial forward on how we can address the homeless issue in our community,” she said.

East Central resident Kevin Lundell also decided to run for the other at-large council seat after city leaders shut the door on the Weber Housing Authority’s project. He is challenging four-term incumbent Bart Blair.  

Lundell and his family purchased one of the new homes in the redeveloped Stone Hill subdivision in 2017. 

“Then you could make the case that with housing prices where they were, it was still a good idea for the city to inject money through the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative to build new homes and bring folks into the East Central area,” Lundell said.  

But now, “the fact that we’re running the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative the exact same way when housing prices have almost doubled, I think it’s a clear example of why we need fresh perspective,” he said.

Lundell pointed out that the Weber Housing Authority had millions of homeless service dollars ready to flow into Ogden to house and care for 25 disabled, homeless adults.

“They were going to have 24/7 case management onsite, and they were even going to move their offices to that facility,” Lundell said. “The neighborhood supported the project by majority without a doubt — we had many show up at City Council meetings advocating for that project in our neighborhood.” 

Time wasted, dreams dashed

For Weber Housing Authority Director Andi Beadles, the city’s decision ended years of investing time and money into retrofitting the old Aspen Care Center in the effort to gain city approvals. 

Beadles had about $3.8 million for the project that Weber Housing Authority had acquired from three sources: $1.59 million from a “Deeply Affordable Housing Fund” grant, $1.2 million in financing from the Alliance Funding Group and $1 million from Utah’s Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund.

In September 2022, Weber Housing Authority purchased the former assisted living facility for $2 million, and then began tailoring the space to the project’s needs.

But in December 2023, the Ogden Planning Commission denied the project’s site plan. Serious doubts about that decision led the Weber Housing Authority to request an advisory opinion from the state’s property ombudsman in January 2024.

That advisory opinion concluded that the Planning Commission’s denial may have been unlawful. But because it wasn’t issued until July 2025 — and did not become public until October, 21 months after it was requested — it came too late to help the Housing Authority. 

In that document, the ombudsman’s office advised that the site plan did, in fact, conform to Ogden’s general plan. And it went a step further to say the Planning Commission’s denial might have also violated federal fair housing and disability laws. 

After the 2023 denial, Beadles continued working with Ogden City to try to arrive at a suitable design, even trimming the number of adults the facility would serve from 32 to 25. And in August 2024, Ogden’s planning board finally gave approval to move forward.

That fall, the project faced one more major hurdle — final approval of the City Council. In December 2024 and January 2025, the council took up the issue publicly and heard considerable support for Weber Housing’s project, in addition to a few residents who spoke against housing for homeless people in their neighborhood.

But by March, the council slammed the door shut. 

At this point, Beadles said the Weber Housing Authority doesn’t plan to use the ombudsman’s opinion to pursue legal action. 

“We’re moving on and trying to identify another location for this permanent supportive housing project and we’re currently in negotiation,” Beadles said in early October. “So we think maybe we have a new site and can move forward with it.” 

You can’t sleep here

City parks have long been havens for unsheltered people to nap. But political will is hardening against that habit. 

In August 2023, the Ogden City Council passed an ordinance to ban camping in public spaces — which could be used to roust a person simply resting on a blanket or sleeping bag with his or her personal belongings nearby. This new crime is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of up to six months in jail. The ban is suspended only when shelters are full.

That action was taken to comply with a new state law that required shelter cities to pass such an ordinance in order to receive certain types of state funding.

In 2024 and 2025, Ogden began using Homeless Shelter Cities Mitigation funds from the state to hire private security guards to patrol four city parks. 

Ogden first hired United American Security, a subsidiary of GardaWorld, in 2021 to patrol the Junction — a 20-acre entertainment, retail, office and residential complex in the heart of downtown.

From 2021 to 2025, Ogden paid GardaWorld’s subsidiary $1.3 million for private security services, of which $793,785 went to park patrols.

By email, Ogden City spokesman Mike McBride said that due to a notable increase in vandalism and damage to park facilities, especially restrooms, pavilions, and other amenities, the city expanded patrol coverage to include Jefferson Park, Orchard Park, High Adventure Park, and Lester Park.

That increase also drew concerns, particularly in the east central areas surrounding Lester Park. In May, residents of that historic and diverse neighborhood began asking questions.

An email exchange between Ogden City Arts Administrator Lori Buckley and a member of the city’s Arts Advisory Committee, obtained through a government records request, revealed some of those concerns. 

“I’m sure there are nice people working for GardaWorld around earth, but it’s strange for Ogden to employ them to act as security in Lester Park without disclosing their function and authority. When they approach people … are they vested with the same authority as a police officer?” Camille Washington asked Buckley via email. Camille is the sister of Alicia Washington, the City Council candidate.

“Patrolling a commercial area like the Junction is different from patrolling a public greenspace,” Washington wrote. “Their temporary presence in the park is still concerning since it’s not a permanent solution to any real or perceived safety issues.”

Lester Park is anchored by the main branch of the Weber County Library, a haven long seen as an equalizer where anyone can go sit, read, take an English class, and even indulge in a snack at its indoor cafe.

The treelined block also serves as the heart of Ogden’s east-central community that borders the city’s downtown. 

McBride clarified how GardaWorld’s services fit with what Ogden police officers provide.  

“GardaWorld’s role is strictly to deter, detect, and report — not to engage,” McBride said. “They do not intervene or attempt to detain individuals.”

The aim of that unarmed patrol is to deter further vandalism and property damage. And according to McBride, having those extra eyes and ears on city parks has proven to be cost-effective.

“Their presence has helped reduce vandalism, graffiti, and other nuisance crimes in key areas, resulting in fewer repairs and lower maintenance costs for the city,” McBride said. Meanwhile, Ogden police officers can “stay focused on higher priority calls citywide.”

Ogden is home to the Lantern House, northern Utah’s largest homeless shelter and a host of services for the unsheltered population cluster around the city’s downtown. Shelter residents spend their days in the vicinity of those services and shelter. Sometimes that involves napping in the park.

However, in June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that cities can criminalize sleeping and camping outside in public spaces, as Ogden had done the previous year.

In early 2025, Utah lawmakers passed legislation making unauthorized camping or sleeping outside on state property a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail. That law took effect in May.

In late July, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to end “crime and disorder on America’s streets.” He urged scrapping Housing First policies that Utah had once championed to national acclaim in favor of refocusing on law enforcement, accountability, treatment, recovery and self-sufficiency.

That order included the use of civil commitment to place homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings.   

“My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety,” Trump said in the July 25 order. He decried “endemic vagrancy” and “disorderly conduct” as contributors to making “our cities unsafe.”

Trump also directed that federal agencies assess prioritizing grants to those states and cities cracking down on drug use and urban camping and loitering. 

By July 29, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz sent a letter to Utah’s Homeless Services Board echoing Trump’s executive order as aligning with the state’s values and expectations.

During a Sept.16 session of the Legislature’s interim Health and Human Services Committee, members got a chance to view a draft of the state’s new action plan, titled “Aligning with the Ending Crime and Disorder Executive Order.”

That working draft advocates for several changes, including more in-patient psychiatric beds and jail-based competency-restoration units, along with the use of civil commitment policies to ensure substantively more individuals who are suffering from mental health disabilities receive the help they need.

Weber/Morgan’s Local Homeless Council responded in a Sept. 19 letter, voicing “deep concern” about the entire approach outlined in the state’s newly released action plan: 

“Utah is a state that promotes, emphasizes and prioritizes local control. Local jurisdictions should have the ability to make decisions and implement homeless programs that best represent the needs of their communities,” wrote Sharon Bolos, a Weber County commissioner who chairs the Weber-Morgan Local Homeless Council.

For Beadles, this new direction raises red flags.

“I think that never before have we been in this position where homelessness is being criminalized like it is now,” Beadles said. “What’s happening at the state level is empowering cities to take this type of action, which up to this point we felt was unconstitutional. So it’s a difficult time to be a homeless service provider, and it’s even more difficult for homeless individuals on the street.”