Major urban centers in the United States are also experiencing a serious housing crisis. Currently, it is estimated that there is a shortage of 7.3 million dwellings in the U.S. To address this, President Donald Trump, who has a background as a "real estate developer," has introduced a new solution for the housing crisis.

A housing complex in Georgia, USA. /Courtesy of Bloomberg
A housing complex in Georgia, USA. /Courtesy of Bloomberg

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 17th (local time), the Trump administration is forming a task force (TF) to find federal government-owned land suitable for building affordable dwellings. This is viewed as the first step in fulfilling the promise to transfer or lease government land to local governments to resolve the housing crisis.

The TF will be jointly operated by the Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The federal government is the largest landowner in the U.S., managing 650 million acres of land, which is over one-fourth of the total land in the country. The TF is expected to begin by identifying land parcels suitable for construction.

Officials from both agencies told WSJ that they would "identify the locations where housing demand is the most urgent" and said, "We will identify locations that can support dwellings, taking environmental impacts into careful consideration and considering land use restrictions." They also noted that government-owned land may be sold to private developers as needed.

According to preliminary analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank based in Washington, even if only 512,000 acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Western states such as Nevada, Utah, California, and Arizona were developed, it could yield 3 to 4 million new dwellings. WSJ reported, "This level of increase is among the most ambitious housing proposals in U.S. history" and "it could greatly help in addressing the housing shortage in the U.S."

However, there are voices questioning the Trump administration's policy to resolve the housing crisis. This is because only a small portion of government-owned land is located near cities where the housing crisis is severe. An analysis of government land maps and housing shortage data from the National Association of Realtors by WSJ revealed that only about 47 million acres, or approximately 7.3% of federal government-owned land, are located near metropolitan areas.

Especially in the New York City metropolitan area, which is one of the areas facing the most serious housing shortages in the U.S., it is estimated that only 3.4% of the land is owned by the federal government. Most of this land is concentrated in New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Queens. Furthermore, a significant portion of federal land is located in rural states such as Utah, Idaho, and Montana, which are far from the housing crisis.

Building dwellings far from urban areas not only requires the destruction of wildlife habitats but also the initial establishment of infrastructure systems. Pete Carroll, who leads public policy and industry relations research at the global information services company CoreLogic, said, "Land is plentiful, but the important thing is to open up suitable land in the right areas."

WSJ reported, "Trump's ambitions for housing construction may encounter several issues that large housing plans have faced in recent years," noting that "Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY), complex administrative procedures at the local government level, labor shortages, and rising material costs are hindering the construction of new dwellings for low- and middle-income individuals."

Jim Tobin, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Association of Home Builders, said regarding the Trump administration's housing supply measures, "It will encounter those who do not want more dwellings," adding that "finding land that can be developed at affordable prices and is in demand is the biggest goal of housing construction."