The Forgotten Laws

Modern Homestead Act
Pillar 2

✅ Pillar: Modern Homestead Act – Give the People Back the Land

✳️ Why This Is Needed

South Dakota is full of land—but our people can’t touch it.

While billionaire trusts and corporate ranches hoard thousands of acres, working South Dakotans are stuck renting overpriced homes, tied to mortgages they’ll never pay off, or pushed out of their communities entirely. Banks hold the deed. Developers raise the bar. And the dream of building your life on your own land? That’s been buried.

The original Homestead Act helped settle the frontier.
But now the frontier is locked behind red tape, bad loans, and outside greed.

🌱 What We Could Have

A new Homestead Era—designed for this generation.

We could open state-owned or reclaimed land to citizens who want to build, live, farm, raise families, and contribute to their communities. No credit score. No federal strings. No 30-year indenture to a bank that doesn’t even know your name.

We could make land access possible for working people, single parents, skilled tradesmen, tribal members, veterans, and young adults with a dream. We could remove the regulatory traps that keep people out and create a path to real ownership—without debt slavery.

This is about freedom, not permission.

🛠 How We Achieve It

  • Create a Homestead Land Bank using reclaimed, unused, and tax-defaulted land.
  • Offer land grants (1–10 acres) to South Dakota residents who apply with a development or stewardship plan.
  • Establish Freedom-to-Build Zones—areas with dramatically reduced codes and bureaucracy, allowing alternative homes, off-grid structures, and DIY builds.
  • Allow mortgaged homeowners to petition for sovereign land title, even if a bank owns the structure.
  • Prioritize land grants for:
    • Veterans
    • Farmers and ranchers
    • First-time family builders
    • Clean record applicants with skills or trades
  • Prohibit resale of Homestead land for five years to prevent flipping and speculation.
  • Fund optional homestead starter kits: soil testing, septic designs, DIY build guides, and community support networks.
A house isn’t freedom. A mortgage isn’t freedom. A piece of land you call your own? That’s freedom. And it’s time we gave it back to the people who earned it.
The Legislation

📜 SOUTH DAKOTA MODERN HOMESTEAD ACT

“Let the people build again.”

SECTION 1. TITLE

This Act shall be known as the “Modern Homestead and Freedom to Build Act of South Dakota.”

SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

The Legislature finds and declares:

  1. That access to land is foundational to the freedom, prosperity, and dignity of a people.
  2. That the original intent of the Homestead Act—to provide working families a place to build their future—has been eroded by speculation, restrictive zoning, corporate land hoarding, and financial gatekeeping.
  3. That South Dakota possesses both the land and the moral responsibility to restore homesteading opportunities to its lawful residents.
  4. That freedom to build, farm, and live independently is a sovereign right of citizenship, not a privilege of wealth or bureaucracy.
  5. That the future of South Dakota depends on restoring the balance between the land and the people.

SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS

  • “Homesteader” means any South Dakota resident at least 18 years of age applying for land for the purpose of self-determined development, habitation, farming, or regenerative use.
  • “Freedom-to-Build Zone” means a designated county or township where traditional zoning, permitting, and housing code restrictions are suspended or modified for homesteaders.
  • “Homestead Land Bank” means the centralized body responsible for acquiring, managing, and distributing eligible parcels under this Act.
  • “Sovereign Title” means land ownership granted directly by the State of South Dakota, immune to foreclosure or corporate sale, with conditions for use and stewardship.

SECTION 4. CREATION OF THE HOMESTEAD LAND BANK

(1) The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources shall establish the Homestead Land Bank (HLB) to:

  • Identify state-held, forfeited, unused, and reclaimed lands suitable for homesteading
  • Receive divested properties under the Land Sovereignty Act
  • Coordinate with counties and municipalities to release underutilized land for citizen application

(2) The HLB shall maintain a public registry of parcels available for homestead petition, including:

  • Soil ratings, buildability, water access, and deed restrictions
  • Historical use and surrounding community zoning information
  • Community preferences and infrastructure data

SECTION 5. HOMESTEAD APPLICATIONS AND ELIGIBILITY

(1) Any legal South Dakota resident may apply for a homestead allotment between 1 and 10 acres.

(2) Applicants must submit:

  • A basic development plan or intended land use (e.g. off-grid residence, family farm, veterans’ cabin, eco-home, etc.)
  • Proof of residency and no active landholdings above 40 acres
  • A signed 10-year stewardship agreement (use it, or lose it)

(3) Priority shall be given to:

  • Veterans
  • First-time family builders
  • Tradesmen, farmers, and regenerative land users
  • Young adults or retired individuals committed to rural reinvestment

SECTION 6. FREEDOM-TO-BUILD ZONES

(1) Participating counties may opt into Freedom-to-Build Zones, wherein:

  • Zoning requirements and code restrictions are reduced to baseline safety standards only
  • Alternative building styles (earthships, modulars, straw bale, cob, RV-to-permanent conversion, off-grid) are permitted
  • Homesteaders are free to build without permit delays, architectural review boards, or excessive inspection cycles

(2) Homesteaders must ensure:

  • Sanitation and safe water
  • No public hazard or nuisance
  • A minimum of one physical structure or cultivated plot per three years of land tenure

SECTION 7. SOVEREIGN LAND TITLE

(1) Homesteaders who remain in good standing for 5 years shall be granted Sovereign Title to the land.

(2) Land with Sovereign Title:

  • May not be foreclosed upon by any bank or corporation
  • May not be subdivided and sold for speculative gain for at least 10 years
  • May be passed down by will, inheritance, or sale to another South Dakota resident

(3) A citizen with Sovereign Title and a mortgaged structure may petition the HLB for title to the land beneath their home.

SECTION 8. PROTECTION AGAINST SPECULATIVE FLIPPING

  • Homestead lands may not be transferred, leased, or sold to non-residents, corporations, or trusts for a period of 5 years unless approved by the HLB.
  • Violators shall forfeit the parcel, with land reverted to the HLB without compensation.

SECTION 9. SUPPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE

  • The Department of Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Tribal Relations may establish Homesteader Assistance Grants for:
    • Soil testing
    • Compost toilet setups
    • Solar kit installations
    • Starter tools or DIY construction guides
  • The State may partner with local supply stores to provide discounted homesteader bundles.

SECTION 10. ENFORCEMENT AND OVERSIGHT

  • All homestead parcels and zoning zones shall be subject to periodic review for compliance with the spirit of the Act.
  • The Attorney General may investigate fraudulent applications or misuse of sovereign title.

SECTION 11. SEVERABILITY

If any section of this Act is held invalid, the remainder shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 12. EFFECTIVE DATE

This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2026.

This land was never meant to be traded like stock. It was meant to be lived on. Worked. Protected. In South Dakota, the land will return to the hands of its people—one homestead at a time.