Most folks don’t realize that in all states a portion of land is held by local governments. This is called publicly owned land and includes state land.

Publicly owned land are areas of land and water that today could be owned collectively by U.S. citizens AND managed by government agencies. 

In California there are over 99 million acres in public hunting lands alone. The U.S. has a growing database of more than 3 billion parcels of public owned land and marine acres which is managed by over 15 thousand agencies and non-governmental organizations. This covers parks, protected areas, National, state, and regional lands.

While there is no unclaimed land pretty much anywhere in the world – there are government programs that donate land parcels for the sake of development and sell land for pennies on the dollar. However, finding the actual land to lease or buy from whomever is controlling it is another story.

If you’re interested in getting your hands on a piece of publicly owned land then the first place to start would be looking in your local city neighborhood and county. Of course it first helps if you know exactly what you intend on using the land for. As for me, I’m looking for publicly owned land to develop sustainable living spaces for the homeless, better known as housing for the low and very-low income residents.

Wish me luck as I pursue some land from the city (to lease or buy) for the non-profit called Eco Villages for the Homeless and check back here every so often for updates on my progress.