Think the rent is too high? Blame immigration laws

Article author: 
Lou Di Leonardo
Article publisher: 
San Francisco Chronicle
Article date: 
28 June 2019
Article category: 
Our American Future
Tags: 
immigration
cost
Article link: 
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Medium
Article Body: 

The Trump administration just issued a draft rule that would prevent illegal immigrants from claiming federal housing subsidies. The reform will help ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to needy American families.

Though welcome and much needed, the rule doesn’t address the root of the problem — the widespread lack of affordable housing in this country. More than 10 million Americans depend on federal welfare programs to pay rent. Tens of millions more qualify for such assistance but don’t receive any help due to programs’ budget constraints.

America’s immigration laws deserve part of the blame for this sorry state of affairs. Today, 45 million immigrants reside in the United States. Over the coming half-century, immigration will account for nearly 90% of U.S. population growth, according to Pew Research.

This year, the federal government will let in 1 million legal immigrants and hundreds of thousands of temporary guest workers. If current trends hold, another 1 million foreigners will illegally immigrate to our country. And that’s just in 2019....

Take the Bay Area, for example. Immigrants account for roughly 36% of the population. The average home was valued around $1.34 million last year. San Francisco’s housing prices have risen so rapidly that one U.N. official called it a “human rights violation.”
 
In Los Angeles, where immigrants make up 35% of the population, home values shot up 50% in the past five years....
The United States is short nearly 4 million affordable rental units, according to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition....
 
For tens of millions of Americans, the rent is too high. Changing our immigration laws would bring it down....
 

Lou Di Leonardo worked at U.S. Customs when the department merged with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service to become Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He served in a senior capacity at ICE. 

CAIRCO research

How many illegal aliens reside in the United States?

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