Using Federal Land For Housing Takes Center Stage
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Developing federal land for housing could become a reality under the new Trump administration.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a partnership between the two agencies on March 17 that could make federal land available for residential use.
“Our federal lands are an incredible asset on America’s balance sheet and we have been discussing how we can efficiently and effectively steward these underutilized areas to solve our nation’s affordable housing crisis,” Burgum said in a video with Turner.
They plan to identify land suitable for development and implement tailored housing programs with guidance from state and local officials. The goal is to streamline the land transfer processes and promote policies that increase the availability of affordable housing while balancing environmental and land use considerations.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Turner and Burgum wrote that “Working together, our agencies can take inventory of underused federal properties, transfer or lease them to states or localities to address housing needs, and support the infrastructure required to make development viable — all while ensuring affordability remains at the core of the mission.”
Turner and Burgum also announced the creation of a Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing. It is not yet clear who might have a seat at the table.
This could be the first step in tackling the housing affordability crisis, which is a bipartisan issue, but solving the problem could require more outside-the-box thinking.
During an event at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, leaders from AEI Housing Center and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spoke about market-driven solutions to expand the housing supply on March 20.
AEI Housing Center Co-Director and Senior Fellow Edward Pinto said that when it comes to using federal lands, they have a different approach to the housing crisis than what was alluded to by Turner and Burgum.
Pinto said when HUD leaders say affordable housing, he associates that with subsidies.
“If you read that op-ed, the words private sector, private development, private land ownership, by private developers, aren’t mentioned once,” Pinto said. “That is the complete opposite of what we are talking about here.”
Pinto said the federal government can sell land directly to the private sector if such sales are deemed to serve public objectives, such as economic development.
AEI estimates that if the Bureau of Land Management sold 850 square miles of developable land in 10 Western states, that could add three million new homes.
The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.
AEI has identified 250 square miles of suitable federal land in or within 10 miles of existing cities. Pinto used Las Vegas as an example of where there is land close to the city limits that could be used.
That leaves 600 square miles of federal land which could be used to build out Freedom Cities. Pinto said these cities would average about 30 square miles each. 40% of the land could be dedicated to residential purposes and 60% could be used for nonresidential purposes.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chief Economist Curtis Dubay said more homes are needed throughout the country to accommodate the workforce.
“Businesses are feeling such a pinch when it comes to housing,” Dubay said.
In big cities, businesses are having a hard time attracting talent because even if they pay top dollar, housing is expensive and limited.
In rural areas, businesses don’t have housing for seasonal and migrant workers.
“This is an issue that is spanning the entire country. It’s hitting every type of geographic area you can think of and that’s why we have gotten into it,” Dubay said.
Dubay said an all-of-the-above approach could work. That means building more housing in existing cities and developing new areas.
“When it comes to the opportunity with the BLM sales, I think what it could do is be kind of like a test case,” Dubay said. “Say we can get a huge number of units built in the next five years, and that helps in the whole Southwestern part of the country, then we have something to point to to say, ‘Look at the benefit. We built this many number of units. They sold really quickly. The population grew in that area. Business is thriving. This is what you can do if you can get more units built. It doesn’t matter where you are.'”
Dubay noted that the Bureau of Land Management, states, and municipalities own land throughout the country that could be better utilized to support businesses and their workforces.