A lack of affordable housing is not only an issue in Utah — it’s happening across the country. One potential solution that’s gaining momentum is opening up public land for development.
“Unfortunately, finding available land to increase housing supply is a real struggle,” said Utah Sen. Mike Lee during an October 2023 hearing.
“You have to have private land in order to build housing.”
To him, that’s a problem in Utah where roughly 68% of land is controlled by the federal government. That’s not just the state’s iconic national parks, either. A lot of it, as Lee described it, is “just land.”
“Most federal land in the West is managed by the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Forest Service, and most of it doesn't look like the postcard-worthy picturesque viewscapes that you see associated with national parks.”
In Utah, the BLM controls nearly 23 million acres with multiple uses such as energy development, mining, grazing and recreation. Beyond that, there are also military facilities and ranges, national monuments and recreation areas, plus tribal lands.
Lee proposed the HOUSES Act last year and U.S. Rep. John Curtis introduced a companion bill in the House in February — before the state opened up its latest front in the tug-of-war over public lands.
The HOUSES Act would open up opportunities for local communities to nominate small parcels of federal land to be purchased by state or local governments at a reduced price. That land would then be developed for housing.
“These are in holdings that are in or immediately outside of a city or town boundary,” Lee said. “A place where people live.”
Lee’s HOUSES Act is still in committee in the Senate. The idea is also being explored by the Biden administration.
According to a White House fact sheet, federal agencies — not local communities like in Lee’s proposal — are being asked to look for surplus land that is suitable for housing development. The BLM is already exploring the sale of 20 acres near Las Vegas for housing.
But the concept of opening up public land isn’t a new one.
Mountainlands Community Housing Trust Executive Director Jason Glidden said some Utah communities have already explored using publicly-held land for housing, but he’s glad the idea is “on more people's radar.”
“You've seen in other areas where there've been other partnerships where you have land trusts that come into play that would manage the property and utilize it for housing.”
In Park City, for example, a parcel of city-owned land is being developed into housing through a public-private partnership with developers. But even if land is available, that doesn’t always mean it’s suitable for development.
“You're not going to go ahead and develop a large partial land that's, you know, 50 miles outside of everything,” Glidden said. “If there's land that's abutting current infrastructure, that might make a lot more sense.”
Changes in land ownership can be a complicated legal process. There are also local zoning laws and public opinions on density to consider as well.
Despite those challenges, for Glidden, the concept of public lands being a potential solution to the housing crisis is still a worthy endeavor.
“Obviously, land is a key component of housing development,” he said. “Anytime that you can try to reduce that land cost, it can help to create more affordable housing in the long run.”
Read more: Why opening Utah’s public land to development might not solve the housing crisis
