Trump’s Fix For The Housing Shortage Won’t Help Areas That Need It Most
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Key Takeaways
- A new Realtor.com report said President Donald Trump’s plan to open federal land for housing development will not help in many areas needing inventory.
- The U.S. needs 10 million acres to address a shortfall of nearly 4 million homes, the report found.
- Most federally owned land is in western states that already have enough housing and lack the population or jobs to support major new developments.
The U.S. is facing a steep housing shortfall that’s putting a drag on the market, and a solution favored by President Donald Trump may not have a big impact, according to a new report by Realtor.com.
Trump has proposed opening up some of the millions of acres of federally owned land for housing development, and federal agencies are looking into the idea. Low inventory levels, along with elevated mortgage rates, are key factors fueling the high prices in a market that has become increasingly unaffordable for the average American.
According to the Realtor.com report, it would take 10 million acres to build the nearly 4 million homes needed to make up the housing shortfall in the U.S. But there simply isn’t enough land available in the places that need housing the most, Realtor.com found.
“Opening up federal land for housing development may generate incremental supply in parts of the West, but it’s not a silver bullet. The most severe shortages exist in places like the Northeast, where developable federal land is virtually nonexistent,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale.
Federal Land Isn’t Available Where It’s Needed Most
More land will help in some areas, like Las Vegas, but there is not enough federal land available in and around most big cities to meaningfully address the housing shortage.
For instance, it would take more than 1 million acres of federal land to meet the housing demand of Chicago’s Cook County and more than 2 million acres to do the same in Houston’s Harris County. Densely populated Manhattan would need 62,000 acres of federal land to solve its shortage, the report found.
States that do have significant federal land available, such as Nevada, Arizona and Montana, either already have enough housing, or lack the infrastructure, jobs or population to support new development, the report said.
“While freeing up federal lands for housing is one of many solutions on the table, addressing the housing crisis at scale requires aligning supply with where demand actually is,” Hale said. “That means advancing local reforms, such as easing zoning restrictions, encouraging middle-class housing, and investing in infrastructure and transit, to unlock land that’s already close to jobs, schools and amenities.”
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