Scott Turner tours Nevada federal land to talk potential sale, housing development

The secretaries of the U.S. departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Interior (DOI) journeyed to southern Nevada in an effort to highlight the Trump administration’s plan to sell federal lands to private developers for the purposes of housing development.

Joined by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum participated in “a roundtable with stakeholders including representatives from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), local elected officials, developers, housing organizations and members of the conservation community,” according to an announcement from HUD.

The discussion included emphasis on the need for “swift, coordinated action and smart agreements to address developmental barriers and provide greater flexibility to [expedite] federal land transfers for residential development,” the announcement explained.

The secretaries then toured some of the land that is being seen as prime candidates for sale and development. They spoke about the potential for it to impact the lack of available supply in the region.

“The need for more affordable housing in our country requires new partnerships and bold, creative thinking to make the American dream of homeownership a reality for more individuals and families,” Turner said in a statement.

“I’m proud to be working alongside Secretary Burgum on this important initiative leveraging underutilized land suitable for residential development.”

Burgum added that the federal lands represent an opportunity to meaningfully bolster housing supply. He is collaborating with Turner “to secure a new future for Nevada’s housing supply that will put the state in a better position to work with local communities and utilize its land for resource and urban development,” he said.

“In unlocking pinpointed federal lands, we have the opportunity to create smart developments that expand the housing supply and tackle the affordability crisis.”

Lombardo said that the state’s housing options are not matched by the other opportunities available in his state. But he believes that releasing more federal land for housing development will allow Nevada to “finally be able to begin building at the scale that Nevadans deserve and need.”

Amodei explained that addressing the housing shortage in Nevada is necessary to unlocking greater levels of economic opportunity. He lauded “strong cross-agency federal support” to open up more land for housing development.

But the issue — and some of the recent actions taken to address it — have invited scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers at the state and federal levels.

Lombardo and the Democratic-controlled state legislature have butted heads over the correct approach to take in addressing the state’s housing woes. Meanwhile, recent moves at the federal level have invited accusations of “land grabbing” by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

She criticized the markup of a budget reconciliation bill from the House Committee on Natural Resources, which included a late amendment to authorize the sale of thousands of acres of federal land in Nevada and Utah.

“In the dead of night, [Rep. Amodei] pushed House Republicans to move forward with an insane plan that cuts funding from water conservation and public schools across Nevada,” Cortez Masto said earlier this month.

“This is a land grab to fund Republicans ‘billionaire giveaway’ tax bill, and I’ll fight it with everything I have.”

Cortez Masto contends that Amodei made the move without consulting any of Nevada’s congressional delegates and “forced the inclusion of language in the Republicans’ upcoming billionaire-tax cut bill that would sell up to 200,000 acres of public land in Clark County.” The critique was echoed by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) during the markup session itself.

“I would think at a minimum, Mr. Amodei, that you would do your colleagues in Nevada the courtesy of at least striking that language regarding Clark County, engage with your three other colleagues before this gets to the floor, and then have a conversation with them,” Neguse said, according to The Hill.