Trump’s plan to build homes on federal land, explained

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With Donald Trump’s victory secured, housing advocates and experts are watching closely for signs of what his second term as president could mean for the nation’s growing housing crisis.

Housing was a major issue during the presidential election, and it was one of the policy areas that Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris discussed during their debate in September. But much is still unknown, including Trump’s appointment as director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as well as a detailed housing plan.

During his campaign, Trump focused on deregulation, tax cuts and lowering mortgage rates. In speeches, among other things one at the Economic Club of New York in September and a press conference in AugustTrump reiterated his pledge to reduce regulatory barriers and pledged to make federal land available for expanded housing projects.

Politico reported in August that proposals to sell federal land to developers for housing notably appeared in both the Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform and President Joe Biden’s housing plan when he was still in the running. Harris also included housing and affordable housing initiatives in her agenda. Other governments have tried this, but the plans can easily be vetoed.

“I think politically it has always been easy to kill, because people who live near those areas like them to be empty, and they can oppose affordable housing while enjoying their own land and the benefit of living near federal lands,” David said. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference.

“When we talk about affordable housing, that’s something that people are often happy about in someone else’s neighborhood or community, but not in their own, and it’s a hypocrisy that we see in blue states and blue communities alike. seeing red communities.”

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If the plan were to move forward, the federal government – ​​which controls approximately 650 million hectares of land — would invite developers to bid on plots, provided they commit to retaining a percentage of the units at affordable rates for local communities.

“We are generations past the federal government building affordable housing because we discovered that the private sector does a better job and can better leverage the investments,” Dworkin said. “It makes perfect sense for the private sector to do this work, and by definition that means the private sector is going to make private profits. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as the housing is affordable for the working class.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said Trump’s housing plans are “small potatoes” compared to two major policies — neither of which are directly related to housing — that would have the most impact on the industry. Trump has a tentative plan for tariffs and has repeatedly promised to do so increased deportation levels of undocumented immigrants.

“A lot of construction labor is undocumented labor,” Fairweather says. “If you look at non-citizens working in the construction industry, according to the census, that’s about a third of construction workers. And it can be quite disruptive. … For the construction industry, that could mean thinking a certain person is going to show up for work today, and he or she just doesn’t show up. So it’s not even something you can prepare for.”

The plan is difficult to envision, Dworkin said, because the amount of land that could actually house infrastructure is unknown. But he said the western U.S. has a lot of open land — even in unsuspecting, expensive areas of the country like San Francisco.

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Some federal areas aren’t feasible for a variety of reasons, says Andrew Jakabovics, vice president for policy development at Enterprise Community Partners. He argues that rural areas should be ignored in land use.

“[It starts] Obviously with consequences for the environment, but also just the costs of trying to build, bringing materials to the middle of nowhere and the labor force to the middle of nowhere, which will not be feasible. But there is a lot of federally controlled land that is already within municipal boundaries, that is already in urban areas and that is underutilized,” Jakabovics said.

Intention on land use is imperative, he added, but it is also too early for the new government to come up with a plan. “I think it’s about building more in the places where we already have housing and we already have infrastructure and we already have schools and shopping centers and the amenities that make places livable,” Jakabovics said.

Dworkin agrees that it is critical to balance developers’ profit motives with sensible land use. “Developers will naturally focus on the most viable opportunities,” he said. “The government needs a process that is fair, just and efficient.”

The need for affordable housing is great. “Homelessness is growing daily, fueled by the lack of affordable housing,” Dworkin noted. “Addressing this crisis requires building more affordable housing where it is needed – not just in coastal cities, but also in places like Phoenix, Boise, Omaha and Nashville.”

Jakabovic said using federal land to build more homes hasn’t worked on a larger scale before, as state and federal officials play hot potato with the affordable housing issue.

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“[Land use] is largely seen as a state and local issue. Normally we have left development to the market to produce, you know, and even the way we build affordable housing is by incentivizing the private sector to build good housing with targeted affordability,” he said.

Fairweather doubts whether Trump’s plan could become reality. “If you look [Agenda] 47he specifically says he doesn’t want to bring low-income housing to the suburbs. So I don’t think he’s talking about putting subsidized housing on post offices like Harris did,” she said. “And builders are very profit-oriented, and I’m not sure how much federal land has market value.”

In a related development, the Biden-Harris administration last month announced the sale of 50 acres of public land, for just $100 per acre, for construction affordable housing projects in southern Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management sold the land, valued at nearly $20 million, to Clark County for $2,000.

The county plans to develop 210 single-family homes for households earning $70,000 or less. The project known as Cactus Trails, located in southwest Las Vegas, will also create more than 100 jobs.

“There are many areas where both sides can make progress – and this is one of them,” Dworkin said.