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Most voters oppose transferring public land to address housing affordability
A LANDTHINK Pulse survey found 64% strongly oppose the federal government transferring public land to states or localities, while only 9% strongly support selling public land for housing.
A July LANDTHINK Pulse survey shows broad resistance to proposals that would shift public land out of federal hands as a way to ease the housing affordability crisis. The results indicate 64% of respondents said they strongly oppose federal government transfers to states or localities, with another 11% saying they somewhat oppose.
Only 12% of respondents said they somewhat support using public land to address housing affordability, and just 9% said they strongly support measures that would sell public land for housing, according to the survey cited by LandThink. The article frames the backdrop as a long running US housing shortage that has left many households unable to reach homeownership.
LandThink also points to affordability pressure in everyday costs, saying renters are spending more than a third of income on rent and that nearly three quarters of Americans report housing has grown more unaffordable in their communities in recent years, citing poll findings from YouGov and the University of Florida Center for Public Interest Communications.
The piece adds that housing cost gaps remain wide, noting a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimate that homebuyers need to earn $121,400 a year to afford a typical home with monthly costs below 30% of income, compared with an average American income of about $84,000. It says federal agencies including the Department of the Interior and HUD have formed a joint task force to identify underutilized federal parcels for potential housing conveyance. It also describes lawmakers, including Senator Mike Lee, floating provisions to auction or dispose of certain federal land tracts in Western states.