The Federal Government Has a Lot of Unused Land. Can We Sell It Off To Build Houses?

The biggest landowner in the United States is the federal government, which controls about a quarter of the country’s real estate. A lot of that land serves as military installations, national parks, and nature preserves. A lot of it, particularly out West, is sitting unused.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) owns close to 70 percent of the land in Nevada, over 40 percent of the land in Utah, and roughly a quarter of the land in Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, and Wyoming.

Much of this is in the middle of nowhere and unlikely to be developed even in the best of circumstances. Some of it rings existing urban areas or is interspersed among already developed, privately owned parcels.

With housing prices ballooning in the once-affordable Mountain West, politicians of both parties have started to seriously consider selling off some of that excess, unused acreage for home development. There’s certainly a lot of executive energy behind the idea. President Donald Trump’s characteristically ostentatious campaign trail promise was to build 10 low-tax, low-regulation “freedom cities” on federal land.

Newly confirmed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum—whose department contains the BLM—has made supportive comments about the need to build more housing and better neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the existing process for selling off excess federal land is exceedingly cumbersome.

Federal law limits the BLM to selling off only those lands that are uneconomical to manage, were acquired for a purpose that has since been served, or are constraining
the growth of existing communities in places where no nonpublic land could feasibly service that growth.

Before it can be sold off, the BLM must do multiple, extensive rounds of environmental review and stakeholder engagement. Congress also has the power to disapprove larger BLM land sales. Congressional action would be necessary for residential development on existing BLM land to happen at scale.

The current Congress might be the body to get the job done. In past years, Sen. Mike Lee (R–Utah) has repeatedly
introduced bills that would create a streamlined process for selling off BLM land to state and local governments, but only if they allow housing to be built on it. Those bills might have an easier time moving in a Republican-controlled Senate.

This new House of Representatives also features a dedicated YIMBY Caucus focused on expanding housing supply for the first time. Rep. Robert Garcia (D–Calif.)—who chairs the House’s new YIMBY Caucus—says that Democrats and Republicans should ally on building housing on federal lands.

We may or may not not see new “freedom cities,” but perhaps we’ll at least get more freedom to build.

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