Democratic senator open to working with HUD on federal land for housing

One Democratic senator is reaching across the aisle on a key housing agenda item for the Trump administration: developing housing on federal land.

Semafor reported that Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, who sits on the powerful Senate Banking Committee, submitted a letter to both HUD Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum in an effort to find common ground on the issue, referencing their formation of a specialized task force on federal land for housing.

“I applaud the formation of such a task force to utilize federal land as a partial solution to addressing the nation’s housing supply crisis,” said Gallego, a Democrat. “As the task force develops its initiatives and recommendations, I encourage a balanced approach to land development that prioritizes environmental stewardship, respects tribal sovereignty, and involves meaningful engagement with local, state, and tribal communities to ensure housing developments meet their specific needs.”

The Arizona senator goes on to describe the nature of the housing affordability landscape across the country, including the rising costs of both homeownership and rentals taking a larger share of a tenant’s income.

“Given these mounting challenges, it is imperative that we pursue every available avenue to reduce the burden of housing costs on families and make homeownership an accessible cornerstone of the American dream,” Gallego wrote. “Especially in Western states that have patchworks of federal and private land, improving building opportunities on some federal land could be a creative solution to housing shortages in some communities.”

The senator included a list of seven questions about the task force and its work, including names and roles of its members; scheduled meetings and public availability of their content; and the methodology it will use to assess the viability of some federal lands for housing development.

Gallego also seeks information about potential coordination the task force will engage in with other federal agencies as it pursues its work; the potential for private developer partnerships; and the processes by which the task force will engage with communities that could be impacted by its decisions.

It shouldn’t come as so great a surprise. A proposal to sell federal land to developers for housing construction appeared in Joe Biden’s housing plan when he was still running for office.

“What I don’t want to see is us selling plots of land in some of the most beautiful national forests and parks just so some rich guy can get a 50-acre ranch,” Gallego told Semafor.