Kevin Lind is a staff writer for the Deseret News on the Ideas and Culture team, covering the Intermountain West.
SALT LAKE CITY — In the wake of several efforts to use public lands to develop affordable housing last year, advocates for both formed a coalition to determine what it would take to make that goal a reality.
In the time since, the self-proclaimed "unprecedented alliance" — which included more than 60 organizations ranging from religious and civic entities to national conservation and housing activists — put together a joint framework of principles that rejected the political platitudes of last year's proposed federal land sell-offs as a solution and detailed priorities they believe will help the idea succeed. They published their findings, called "Shared Ground," last week.
"Protecting public lands and addressing housing affordability are not mutually exclusive, but complementary priorities that, when aligned, allow us to strengthen communities and achieve durable, equitable outcomes," reads the document. The two communities recognize how necessary tackling the housing crisis is, but decided to work together due to their mutual dissatisfaction over proposals that did not substantially address affordability, nor value the public interest in federal land.
"It was the frustration that brought all of us together — the big huge silver bullet fixes that keep getting bandied about aren't actually addressing the problem," said Michael Carroll, the Bureau of Land Management campaign director for The Wilderness Society. By coming together, they also collected the people able to assist, should the effort to use public lands for affordable housing gain more momentum.
They hope that might happen because they do not think the underlying idea is a bad one. They say executing it successfully will require more forethought and planning.
"It's easy to have a good overarching idea — it's the devil is always in the details," said Kim Johnson, senior policy director for the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "It's always more difficult to put together the specifics. "Core principlesThe coalition came up with four core principles that "set clear expectations" so that housing-related use of public lands "advances genuine community benefit," ensures long-term affordability and continues to protect public lands.
A Bureau of Land Management sign is pictured in Rush Valley in Tooele County on July 7. A coalition was formed recently to promote affordable housing on public lands. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret
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