Why the LDS Church says its Utah meetinghouses don’t double as homeless shelters
The state’s largest faith, like most denominations, reserves these buildings for worship. Instead, it provides millions of dollars in aid and supports hundreds of organizations as a major player in helping the unsheltered community.
(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sacrament meeting ends after a Latter-day Saint service for the homeless at what was then called the Rio Grande Branch in Salt Lake City in 2017. The congregation, now called the Fayette Branch, is one of many ways the church helps unsheltered Utahns.
Blake joined The Tribune in March 2022 to cover city and county government before becoming an editor in 2024. He is a University of Minnesota graduate who started his journalism career in Las Vegas, where he covered local government, state politics and the depletion of the Colorado River. He is dad to a Golden Retriever named Woodward.