Senate Democrat applauds Trump plan to use federal lands for housing

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) applauded President Trump’s plan to use federal lands to build affordable public housing around the country. 

Gallego, in a Wednesday letter, commended the formation of the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing and encouraged the administration to have a “balanced approach to land development that prioritizes environmental stewardship, respects tribal sovereignty and involves meaningful engagement with local, state and tribal communities to ensure housing developments meet their specific needs.” 

The task force was formed last month by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Interior Department to identify underused lands to develop residential properties and simplify the process to use the lands to combat the housing crisis.

“Working together, our agencies can take inventory of underused federal properties, transfer or lease them to states or localities to address housing needs, and support the infrastructure required to make development viable—all while ensuring affordability remains at the core of the mission,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote in mid-March about the task force. 

The U.S. housing crisis was one of the top issues in the 2024 presidential election. A National Association of Home Builders analysis from February found that nearly 75 percent of U.S. households cannot afford a median-priced new home. 

“Given these mounting challenges, it is imperative that we pursue every available avenue to reduce the burden of housing costs on families and make home ownership an accessible cornerstone of the American Dream,” Gallego wrote in the two-page letter.

Gallego, in the letter to Burgum and Turner, requested the names of the task force’s members.

He also asked whether the initiatives’ meeting notes or reports will be public, how the task force plans to coordinate with other departments to address “transportation and environmental” concerns during development and how it plans to engage with rural and tribal communities.