Two Trump administration cabinet members have announced a bold new proposal to tackle America’s housing crisis: a sweeping initiative to turn underused federal land into sites for affordable housing.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published March 16, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum unveiled the creation of a “Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing.” The task force, they say, will work to identify federal lands suitable for residential development and streamline the regulatory process to make those projects a reality.
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“America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it happen,” Turner and Burgum wrote. “Our departments will work together to solve the housing crisis.”
The Interior Department controls over 500 million acres of federal land, a portion of which, the authors argue, could support residential use without threatening environmental protections. HUD will help guide development by identifying areas with the greatest housing needs and working with local and state officials to ensure community-specific planning.
“This isn’t a free-for-all to build on federal lands,” the officials emphasized, addressing what they anticipate will be criticism from environmental and land-use advocates. “It’s a strategic effort to use our resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands.”
A key pillar of the initiative is cutting through bureaucratic red tape. Citing long-standing obstacles like cumbersome environmental reviews and slow interagency coordination, the op-ed argues that the new task force will accelerate land transfers or leases to state and local governments, housing authorities, and nonprofits. The goal is to enable more homes to be built faster—and at lower cost.
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The plan places a special focus on rural and tribal communities, which the authors say have long been overlooked in national housing policy.
“We want to build hope,” Turner and Burgum wrote. “We are going to invest in America’s many forgotten communities.”
Framing the initiative as part of what they call the “Golden Age promised by President Trump,” the officials argue that the plan represents a shift in how public resources are leveraged to address pressing domestic needs. They say the partnership will support not just housing construction but also the infrastructure necessary to make new developments viable.
Reactions to the proposal are likely to be mixed. Advocates for affordable housing may welcome the idea of unlocking federally owned land to expand the housing supply, while conservation groups and land-use policy experts may raise concerns about environmental risks and the potential erosion of public land protections.
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The op-ed did not specify a timeline or list potential sites under consideration, but with both departments under Republican leadership, the initiative is likely to move quickly as the Trump administration seeks to make housing a major policy achievement in its second term.
If successful, the task force could signal a major shift in how the federal government approaches land use and housing development—one that may reshape communities across the country.
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