Decades ago, homes were affordable. You could work a single job and pay for a modestly nice place to hang your hat. And most families could afford such a home on a single salary, meaning one person could theoretically stay at home and either not work, pursue a passion project, or raise their kids. I know this because that's what my parents did. As did their parents before them.
But that isn't the reality we live in anymore.
No, housing has become almost unattainable for the vast majority of people. I have a house, but even with my wife and I working two full-time jobs that pay pretty all right, we still needed our families' help when putting down a down payment. And we're lucky that our parents and family could help us achieve that milestone. Most, however, can't.
You may be asking why I'm talking about housing on a powersports site, but the two are inextricably linked. In recent years, the drum beat to sell off public land—the land you and I enjoy on our powersport machines, or use to hike, fish, camp, and hunt—has increasingly come under threat of being sold, but done so under an audacious lie: selling public land to developers could fix the housing crisis.
And in the latest turn of events, the Trump administration with the help of its Department of the Interior (DOI) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offices, aims to perpetuate that lie and make it an official policy. Our public lands are being readied to be sold just to make a few people richer, and it's absolutely infuriating these people are sticking with such a brazen and easily disproved falsehood.
I wish the mainstream media did better on calling them out, but they're actually helping these actors.
In a joint statement by DOI and HUD, and then published as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary Scott Turner state, "America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it happen by making federal land available to build affordable housing stock." They further, "The Interior Department oversees more than 500 million acres of federal land, much of it suitable for residential use. The Department of Housing and Urban Development brings expertise in housing policy and community development. Together we are creating the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing to increase housing supply and decrease costs for millions of Americans."
Now, the problems with these statements come right from the beginning of the Secretaries' conceit. We do have a housing crisis, but it's not for a lack of "housing stock," as they put it. In fact, we have tons of vacant homes spread across America, both in terms of single-family homes and apartments. The problem, the real root of the issue, however, is affordability. But solving that won't line folks' pockets.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently around 15.1 million vacant dwellings spread across the United States. That shouldn't be the case if "housing stock" was the core issue of the housing crisis. You'd expect to see far fewer vacant homes. I mean, if we actually had a stock problem, wouldn't that number be zero? But then we'd have to address the real reason why no one can buy a house: affordability.
Let's talk some more numbers. The median income in America right now is $65,470 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the average transaction price for a home sale is $404,500 according to the National Association of Realtors. And the average rental price is $1,600. Add in the required down payment for a sale, which is anywhere between 10% and 20%, or first and last month's rent, and you begin to see why there are 15.1 million vacant dwellings.
Those prices are untenable for many, especially given the median income. And that's not even adding in one variable: homeowners demanding a return on their home investment or as it was spun to my generation, building equity.
Right now, there's a whole generation of homeowners who've spent their entire lives believing that they deserve to see their home's value increase year-over-year. And it's spun them into then trying to sell their homes for three to five times they originally purchased their home for. They're still living in their homes, so they're not vacant and don't count toward that 15.1 million figure, but they're essentially pricing many out of the market. In fact, home real estate giant RedFin stated that the housing supply had recently hit a four-year high, meaning more homes are on the market but remain unsold. Why, because no one can afford them.
Meme Loggins, a real estate agent told RedFin, "I explain to sellers that their house will sit on the market if it’s not fairly priced."
What's more, these secretaries know what they're doing. They both know, as does the rest of the federal government, that the housing crisis isn't one tied to stock. They know the real reason, and in part it's why a lot of them are so wealthy. They know all this and don't care, as this movement to sell off public lands has been rapidly intensifying in recent years. Between Utah's asinine lawsuit against the federal government, and prior sell-offs, and Wyoming's attempted land grabs, and other Western states following suit, there's been a concerted effort to sell public land to the highest bidder, all under the guise of doing right by the people.
But it's never been about that, though the Secretaries would love for you to believe their bullshit.
"This isn't a free-for-all to build on federal lands," they say in the statement, adding, "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." A reminder, these are the same people who've gutted the agencies responsible for "preserving our most beautiful lands." These are the same people who've dismantled the workforces that ensure we can enjoy our public lands. These are the same people who've sold off land to extractive agencies and developers before.
They don't want to fix anything, least of all the housing crisis. They just want to be marginally richer and for us to not have the resource that nearly every American loves. Don't believe their lies and fight for our public land. Fight for the land we use to dirt bike and ATV. Fight for the land we use to camp and fish and hunt on. Fight for the land we love to breathe in and use to escape the hustle and bustle of life. Fight for our public lands.
Don't let these people win.
