President Donald Trump’s pledge to use public lands to help address the housing crunch has some rare bipartisan support compared with most of his policies, at least in some pricey Western areas where Democrats have looked to the same idea.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a joint task force earlier this month examining the use of “underutilized federal land” suitable for housing, with promises to streamline the process of selling this land.
“Our federal lands are an incredible asset on America’s balance sheet, and we’ve been discussing how we can efficiently and effectively solve our nation’s affordable housing crisis,” Burgum said in a video celebrating the task force.
To fulfill this goal, the Bureau of Land Management last week said it had identified 400,000 acres across the West that are within 10 miles of cities or towns and could be used for housing, a plan first reported by Bloomberg. When reached for comment, the agency did not provide further information.
The Interior Department manages more than 500 million acres of land across the United States, most of it concentrated in the West. On average, federal land ownership accounts for nearly 46 percent of the land in the 11 westernmost continental states and Alaska.
While Republicans and Democrats mainly disagree on other uses for public land, particularly Trump’s call to expand drilling, selling off portions for housing can run across party lines. The Biden administration in October announced the sale of 20 acres in Las Vegas — land appraised at almost $20 million — for $2,000 to Clark County for the building of affordable housing.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., reintroduced a bill this year that includes a requirement that the Bureau of Land Management sell land in the Reno, Nev., area that is suitable for new affordable housing.
President Joe Biden in January signed into law legislation introduced by Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., that made more land appraisers eligible to work with the Interior Department, a move she said would speed up land transactions for uses including housing.
With the current administration’s plans not yet public, however, the two sides may diverge on what type of housing is built on this land.
Republicans have proposed programs less targeted to specific locations, including legislation previously introduced by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, that would allow state and local governments to nominate parcels of land to be sold for housing. Lee has not reintroduced the bill in this Congress, but during Burgum’s confirmation hearing he said he hopes to work on the proposal.
And while the plan could make a difference for cities such as Las Vegas and Reno, it may be inadequate to address the problem elsewhere. Across much of the nation, particularly east of the Mississippi River, public lands are located far from high-cost real estate markets and account for just over 4 percent of each state’s total land on average.
Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, criticized the plan as a potential contributor to urban sprawl.
“The president wants to sell off the lands that are most accessible to Westerners for hiking, hunting, and camping and turn them into miles of McMansions that stretch across our deserts and mountains,” Weiss said in a statement. “Building ten miles out from small towns is not a recipe for smart growth or affordable housing. It’s just a giveaway to billionaire developers at the expense of America’s parks, trails, and wildlife.”
And despite the push to lower costs for consumers, other Trump policies are expected to impact home construction. The National Association of Home Builders has warned that tariffs on products ranging from softwood lumber to distribution transformers could drive up the costs.