Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Department (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum announced in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal that their organizations would make “federal land available to build affordable housing stock.”
However, it will take time to see if the approach works as there is much more to residential development than having available land, though it is an important element.
The two officials said that HUD would identify where housing needs are most pressing and work with state and local leaders who know their communities' needs best. The Department of the Interior would identify locations that could support homes “while carefully considering environmental impact and land-use restrictions.” They are currently creating a joint task force to investigate how to use federal lands to increase the housing supply.
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According to the article, the DOI oversees more than 500 million acres of federal land, which they say “much” is suitable for residential construction. The agency would reduce red tape for land transfers or leases while HUD would “ensure these projects align with affordability goals and development needs.”
The American Enterprise Institute estimated that using only 512,000 acres controlled by the Bureau of Land Management could enable between three million and four million new homes in western states, the WSJ separately reported.
But while the availability of land is a tremendous advantage, many factors complicate housing construction, including materials and labor costs, local zoning, local bureaucracy, and existing residents who strongly oppose new affordable housing. Further, to be viable, affordable housing also needs to be around inexpensive transportation, within proximity to jobs, retail, and other amenities.
Much of the federal land is in states with large rural areas. Much of it is remote and would need large infrastructure construction that could then disrupt wildlife ecosystems. As a WSJ analysis of government land maps and housing shortage data from the National Association of Realtors explained, only 7.3% of all federal land, about 47 million acres, is within metro areas that need more homes.
Furthermore, such a problem would need agreement and support from local, state, and federal officials.
“Freeing up federal land for more housing—I think it’s a good idea,” Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, told the Journal. “But the problem with housing policy is that politicians want a magic housing button that they can press. And that’s not how this works.”
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