Originally published on May 30, 2025 by the San Mateo Daily Journal and written by Holly Rusch

Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, has introduced new legislation that could make it easier for local cities to build affordable housing on land purchased by the Federal Highway Administration.

Currently, Mullin said, there’s an estimated 276,000 acres of unused government-owned land in transit-rich areas in the U.S., the majority of which is owned by the Federal Highway Administration. It’s difficult for local municipalities to repurpose that land for affordable housing because of current law, which stipulates properties purchased with federal funds must be sold for fair market price.

The bill Mullin has introduced, dubbed the Empty Lots to Housing Act, would remove that bureaucratic red tape and allow FHWA-owned properties to be transferred to local governments or nonprofit housing providers if 40% of the units are below market rate.

“This would be a way to make that more flexible and allow for the transfer of that property, to get the federal government out of the way and eliminate that federal barrier,” Mullin said.

The effort to streamline the lot conversion process was inspired by an unused area at the Colma BART station in San Mateo County, the area Mullin represents. The lot is managed by SamTrans but, because it was purchased with federal funds, the transition into building affordable housing has been difficult.

Bureaucratic challenges to building more affordable housing hit particularly hard in his district, Mullin said, where the cost-of-living crisis has made it extremely challenging for residents to afford rent.

“These challenges are particularly acute in high-cost areas like San Mateo County,” he said. “I’ve endeavored to connect my work in Washington with the needs of the district.”

Affordable housing has long been a priority for Mullin, he said, and the issue was easier to address in more tangible ways when he served in the California State Assembly. Alongside his work on enhancing low-income housing tax credits, this bill serves as a way to make a practical difference in creating more housing.

“I was able to do more readily accessible things at the state level, with regard to direct legislation affecting housing,” Mullin said. “We’ve been searching for a way at the federal level to address this issue.”

He’s hopeful that the bill — which is co-sponsored by Republican and Democratic colleagues — can garner bipartisan support and even appeal to recent Republican and Trump administration-led efforts to cut through federal bureaucracy.

“The impulse there at the executive level is to try to eliminate bureaucracy and deal with federal red tape. This, I think, is a thoughtful example,” Mullin said “I’m going to be optimistic we can build out that coalition.”

In recent months, Congress and the federal government as a whole has been mired by infighting and anger around the Trump administration’s actions on issues from immigration to spending. Mullin said he is committed to fighting back against the Republican agenda and supporting pragmatic legislation that will help his constituents.

“I’m going to continually be looking for ways to move the housing conversation forward at the federal level and use any mechanism I can, because it’s such a crucial centerpiece issue for the San Francisco Peninsula,” he said.