Federal Land Sales for Affordable Housing?

[brymoore]

Article about land swaps from a tribal angle. Maybe there are pockets in other eastern state tribes where land availability is an issue, but that's not what I see from where I sit. It's always water. Day in, day out, water.

New DOI-HUD partnership aims to open federal lands for tribal, rural housing

HUD and Interior Department launch joint task force to unlock federal lands for tribal housing development, aiming to address persistent Native housing shortages in western states.

tribalbusinessnews.com

The issue with tribal housing isn’t land. Banks won’t lend on tribal land. There are land ownership issues (tribal vs individual) and tribal laws supersede state laws making collection on bad loans nearly impossible. The loans are uncollectible.

If the Feds want to fix tribal housing, build houses on the tribal land and do Fed loans.

 

[Dan-06]

I haven't read through all of the posts, so maybe it has been said or maybe it goes without saying but it seems like there may be a more targeted approach to federal land transfer in the works. Many of the 'wholesale' approaches are getting little traction and many bills aimed at transfer at state legislatures have failed. I think we'll see more of the approach of selling public lands for a specific reason (ie. affordable housing). The fact that it has support on both sides of the aisle will help the proponents cause as well. I'm sitting in Jackson, WY at the moment and overlooking the National Elk Refuge. It is easy to hear an argument for pushing town into the NER for affordable housing in a place where the workforce comes from upwards of a couple hours away.

Now you sir have a valid point!