In cities like Boise, Idaho, St. George, Utah, and Reno, Nevada, schoolteachers and paramedics commute over an hour each day—not by choice, but because they can’t afford to live near their jobs. Yet just beyond the edges of these growing communities, hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land sit idle—untouched, unavailable, and unhelpful in the face of a worsening housing crisis.
While home prices surge and working families are priced out, outdated federal land policies continue to choke the supply of buildable land in the American West. But an innovative initiative recently launched by the Trump administration could change that, offering a path to balance growth and conservation in one of the nation’s most land-rich but housing-poor regions.
The federal government controls a staggering amount of land—over 650 million acres throughout the country, with the majority concentrated in the West. In states like Nevada, Utah, and Idaho, nearly two-thirds of the entire landmass is owned and managed by D.C. bureaucracies. In Nevada alone, over 80 percent of the land is federally controlled.
Vast swaths of these lands are not national parks or pristine wilderness, but rather scrubland and desert tracts that could and should be used to meet pressing local needs—especially housing.
In March, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a partnership to “identify underutilized federal lands suitable for residential development, streamline land transfer processes and promote policies that increase the availability of affordable housing.”
This solution isn’t complicated, but it will require political tenacity. Outside of protected national park boundaries and sensitive terrain, the federal government holds an astonishing 800,000 acres of idle land within one mile of city limits—that’s roughly the same size as the state of Rhode Island. These unused federal lands include parcels within major metro areas like Phoenix and just outside fast-growing cities like St. George, Boise, and Reno.
Turner and Burgum are evaluating processes to cut red tape and “transfer or lease” these lands to states or localities for the express purpose of “addressing housing needs.”
This Trump administration initiative holds the potential to finally bring relief from a federal lands nightmare that began in 1976, when the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) gave federal bureaucrats sweeping authority to lock up vast stretches of land across the western states. The law marked a sharp departure from the era of westward expansion and local stewardship, replacing it with centralized ownership and punishing regulation.
For more than a century following President Abraham Lincoln’s 1862 Homestead Act, the West thrived by offering economic opportunity, personal liberty, and the ability for families to build a future. But D.C.’s relentless hunger for control ultimately scrapped that legacy in favor of top-down management from 2,000 miles away.
For decades, career politicians in Washington have squandered our inheritance, but President Donald Trump’s leadership can restore Americans’ opportunities to thrive. Trump understands, like Lincoln did before him, that public land exists for the benefit of the American people, not the convenience of unelected bureaucrats. When families can’t afford to live where they work, something is broken—and Washington has been part of the problem.
The federal government must stop hoarding land and start working with states and cities to unlock it for responsible development. This doesn’t mean bulldozing national parks or paving over treasured landscapes. It means putting to use the scrublands and surplus parcels that would be best used to empower everyday people to achieve the American Dream.
There’s precedent here. Under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998, the federal government auctioned off some 35,000 acres near Las Vegas. That land now holds tens of thousands of homes, while over $4 billion in proceeds has been used to protect other public lands. The success of the Las Vegas land program proves that it’s possible to strike a responsible balance between growth and conservation—something Western communities have been demanding for decades. It’s a proven approach that should be scaled up nationwide.
Some environmental groups—and many career officials in D.C.—will object. They’ll say any loosening of federal land control is dangerous. They’ll warn about slippery slopes and scare voters with images of bulldozers invading pristine wilderness.
But the truth is, much of this land was never protected for beauty or biodiversity. It’s federal land because no one else wanted it decades ago, even though it could be extremely useful now. It sits idle while Americans go homeless or commute hours each day because they can’t live near their jobs.
Lawmakers from both parties have expressed interest in Trump’s approach. Utah Republican Senator John Curtis called the plan “a practical solution” to his state’s housing crisis. Hawaii Democrat Senator Brian Schatz, while urging safeguards to ensure affordability, also admitted: “Freeing up federal land for more housing… it’s a good idea.”
In addition to Trump’s proposal, Congress is already moving on its own effort to open up more federal lands for housing and development. Just this week, Republicans passed new legislation out of the House Natural Resources Committee to authorize the sale of hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land in Nevada and Utah. The measure could be included as part of Republicans’ budget reconciliation package which should pass later this summer.
This isn’t a left vs. right issue. It’s a question of whether Washington will continue to hoard power or trust states, cities, and citizens to make decisions for themselves.
Unlocking federal land won’t just build homes—it will rebuild communities, shorten commutes, and restore the promise of the American West. The land is there. The need is urgent. Now is the time to act.
W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.
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