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New and under-construction homes stand near Slate Canyon on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, in Provo.

Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo

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U.S. Sen. Mike Lee answers a question during a town hall held in Lehi on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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U.S. Sen. Mike Lee reintroduced the Helping Open Underutilized Space to Ensure Shelter, or HOUSES, Act last week in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a bill that aims to lower the housing shortage across the country. The bill was first introduced in April 2022 but the legislation was not passed by the end of the that year.

The bill is being reintroduced without changes. Lee told the Daily Herald that in recent years with the housing shortage growing, his bill is intended to help meet the needs of people across the West.

According to reporting by the Deseret News, “Utah’s housing shortage is likely to increase by 2024. During a building boom, Utah made up significant ground on its housing shortage, shrinking the gap from 56,800 units in 2017 to 28,400 units in 2022. However now as homebuilding activity is expected to contract, new households will outnumber new housing units. Consequently, the housing shortage will likely increase to over 37,000 units by 2024.”

The HOUSES Act will address the affordable housing shortage, Lee said, by allowing states to purchase federal land at a discounted price to be used for the construction of single-family homes. A press release about the legislation says it would offer “small parcels of federal land for purchase to states or local government entities at a PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) ratioed price.”

Additional requirements of the bill include barring these dwellings from being second homes and requiring them to be single-family homes.

Now that the legislation has been reintroduced, Lee said, “It’s really a matter of making people aware of it. I’m talking to my colleagues one by one. I just talked to one of my Democratic colleagues just a little while ago who seemed interested in it and wants to have a closer look. So, it’s just a matter of spreading the word. But as the housing crisis grows more severe, the need for this grows more pronounced.”

There is no time limit on the bill. If the legislation is passed, purchasing public land will be an option for each state or local government that determines more housing is needed. In addition, there is not a certain criteria that needs to be met to qualify as a state with a housing shortage, nor does the bill require the single-family housing to be listed under or within a specific price range. Lee explained the affordable housing shortage would be addressed by constructing more homes to increase the supply to meet or exceed the demand, in turn bringing down home prices.

The piece of land that the state or local government nominates to be used for housing would be first approved by the Department of the Interior under this act.

The chosen land must be used primarily for housing, with a mandate of at least 85% of the land being used for residential purposes and the community’s related needs. Commercial businesses would be eligible to use the remaining 15% of land to fulfill other needs of the community. In addition, the density of the land must not be less than four homes per acre.

Lee explained the federally owned land eligible under this act is only land that is next to an already established community. “It can’t just be any (Bureau of Land Management) land; it has to be within or immediately outside city boundaries. So it’s in a place where people already live,” he said.

Using land in the middle of nowhere would not be an efficient use of this legislation, Lee said, explaining that the intent is to decrease the environmental impact because building would not take place in a location that is completely undisturbed. National monuments, wilderness areas and national recreation areas are excluded from the available land that can be used.

Lee said the housing shortage is not going to go away, specifically in Western states where there is a large quantity of public land.

Two-thirds of the property in the state of Utah is owned by the federal government, Lee explained, the majority of which is managed by the BLM. “If it were just a tiny fraction of 1% of the federal land in Utah were used for this purpose, we could dramatically increase the number of single-family homes in the state, potentially doubling it,” he said.

The secretary of the interior will have oversight over the development and the continued use of the land. “If the property isn’t used for its intended purpose and consistent with the requirements of the act and after notice, and a hearing and opportunity to correct the issues, the secretary can repossess the land,” Lee said.

KUER reported in 2022 that when the bill was first introduced, the BLM was not in support of the bill. They reported, “In a Senate committee testimony published in June of this year, the agency said it opposes the act because it would be required to ‘sell land without sufficient evaluation of the values to the public or to future generations, or sufficient compensation to the American taxpayer,'” the news outlet wrote at the time.

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Lee described the role the BLM has in this legislation: “They provide technical assistance to us in describing what it would need to do. BLM has not, to my knowledge, come out in favor of it. But ultimately, this is Congress’ decision and not that of the Bureau of Land Management or the Department of the Interior.”

He continued, speaking of the BLM: “They’re not in this to lobby for legislation. We consulted with them and their technical assistance. … They’re not lobbying for it. But to my knowledge, they’re not lobbying against it, nor should they; that’s not their place.”

The BLM did not respond to inquiries from the Daily Herald about their stance on the HOUSES Act.

Responses from two Utah County commissioners in support of the HOUSES Act were received by Lee’s team and shared with the Daily Herald:

Tom Sakievich: “The Helping Open Underutilized Space to Ensure Shelter Act (HOUSES Act) is a welcomed, significant move for the benefit of western U.S. states, particularly the state of Utah. 63.1% of lands within Utah are owned by the federal government and, with rapid population expansion, HOUSES Act allows the local Utah governments to have some latitude to address scarcity of available property.”

Brandon Gordon: “The HOUSES Act helps us to prepare and plan for growth, It’s happening, we must plan, mitigate the bad effects and ensure we use the benefits to make a stronger Utah County.”