H.R. 3215 — Utilizing National Land for Opportunities and Community Key (UNLOCK) Housing Act

This section designates the development, operation, and maintenance of affordable housing primarily for extremely low-income, very low-income, or low-income families (as defined in the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992) as a public purpose under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. (The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to convey suitable public lands to states, local governments, and qualified nonprofits for recreation or public purposes at $5 per acre or less, subject to development requirements and reversion to the United States if the land is not used accordingly.)

This section establishes a Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing, to be created by the Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development and the Interior not later than 30 days after enactment of this section. The task force must (1) identify underutilized federal land suitable for residential development; (2) streamline federal land transfer processes; (3) promote policies to increase affordable housing availability; and (4) evaluate and quantify costs to federal and state entities from lack of affordable housing. The task force must submit annual reports to Congress describing its prior year's work and terminates 10 years after enactment.