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Advocates said while Utah's recent legislative session took up items addressing cost-of-living issues for the state's residents, lawmakers came up short and one of the most critical issues was housing affordability.

The legislature allocated about $10 million in grants to help first-time homebuyers but limited it to new construction only.

Rod Moser, a real estate broker from West Jordan, said the program ended up benefiting mostly elected officials who are also developers.

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"There was a lot of opportunity for our legislators to do something that would help make things a little bit easier, and none of those passed," Moser contended.

Moser, who is also a Democratic candidate for State House District 45, said lawmakers did little to solve the problem of affordable rentals and continued policies making it profitable for investors but not homebuyers to own properties. He noted Utah has a shortage of roughly 50,000 affordable rental units.

Other issues in front of lawmakers included potential losses to the Medicaid program, spurred by cuts made in this year's federal budget.

Lynette Taylor, a volunteer for the advocacy group United Today, Stronger Tomorrow in Utah, is disabled and cares for two children with developmental disabilities. She said while lawmakers did pass a contingency fund to protect Medicaid recipients like her, she worries her family's health care funds could be taken away.

"If we were to lose Medicaid or there were cuts to Medicaid in any way, we would be sunk," Taylor emphasized. "We depend on it. It's a lifeline that we can't afford to do without."

The legislature also considered but failed to pass cost-of-living measures which would have standardized wage rates for public projects, increased pricing transparency for consumers, eliminated so-called "junk fees," and limited use of noncompete agreements for employees making less than $150,000.