This week, HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced a new task force with the Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. This task force is designed to focus on developing affordable housing on protected federal lands, including more than 500 million acres of land that has been preliminarily deemed suitable for housing and other residential use.
This initiative is part of a more significant focus on removing impediments to new housing construction. The housing crisis in America comes mainly from a dwindling supply of housing and the cost inflation that results from the reduced supply. In theory, rezoning federal lands for residential use removes roadblocks to new construction and could increase production and therefore stabilize costs.
In a recent press release, HUD stated the following:
Streamlining the regulatory process is a cornerstone of this partnership. Historically, building on federal land is a nightmare of red tape—lengthy environmental reviews, complex transfer protocols and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will cut through the bureaucracy. Interior will reduce the red tape behind land transfers or leases to public housing authorities, nonprofits and local governments. HUD will ensure these projects align with affordability goals and development needs. This isn’t a free-for-all to build on federal lands, although we recognize that bad-faith critics will likely call it that. It’s a strategic effort to use our resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands.
Restrictive zoning and other regulatory burdens on new development has long impeded expanding the housing supply. However, there are many other factors that contribute to slow construction of new and rehabilitated housing. As a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta concluded, the average time for simply planning a new project is 16 months, with some locations in the country showing even more significant delays in the planning and zoning phase.
On average across all years and geographies in our data set, it takes 15.3 months from when a project is first announced to when construction begin…. From inception to delivery, a multifamily project takes 27.6 months [on average].
Each year the number of multifamily units on the market fails to keep pace with the increasing demand, any effort to increase overall efficiency of new construction is badly needed. According to the New Multifamily Housing Council, the country needs at least 4.3 million new rental units in the next 10 years to stabilize the housing market.
