Sponsors
Introduced May 6, 2025 by Steven Horsford · Last progress May 6, 2025
The bill aims to expand affordable housing quickly by transferring underused federal land to local builders—benefiting low-income households and reducing land costs—while creating new taxpayer expenses, local trade-offs over public land use, and risks from local opposition and a time-limited federal program.
Low-income households and renters gain increased access to permanent affordable housing because underused federal lands can be transferred for development, accelerating construction in both rural and urban areas.
Local governments and nonprofit developers can more easily obtain federal land and coordinate policy, reducing land acquisition costs and making affordable housing projects more financially feasible.
Congress and policymakers receive annual reports quantifying costs from lack of affordable housing, providing data to inform targeted legislation and funding decisions.
Taxpayers will face new costs—for infrastructure upgrades, environmental reviews, cleanup, subsidies, and administration (including a federal Task Force)—with no guarantee those expenditures will produce completed housing projects.
Local opposition, legal challenges, regulatory constraints, or contamination/cleanup requirements could delay or block transfers and housing projects despite federal efforts.
Converting public or recreational federal lands to housing may reduce public access and recreational space in some communities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Declares affordable housing on federal land a public purpose and creates a HUD–Interior Joint Task Force to identify land, streamline transfers, and report to Congress.
Declares development, operation, and maintenance of affordable housing for extremely low-, very low-, and low-income families on federal land to be a valid public purpose under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, enabling such lands to be used for housing. Requires HUD and Interior to create a Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing within 30 days to identify underused federal parcels for residential development, streamline transfers, recommend policies to increase affordable housing, report annually to Congress, and sunset after 10 years.