The Left’s Cost-of-Living Crisis: Biden-Era Illegal Immigration Surge Raised Housing Prices

We already know President Biden’s open border led to violent crimes against American citizens. We know that illegal aliens are receiving welfare meant for the truly needy. We know that many of them can vote too—and that Democrats in parts of the country are actively encouraging it.

Now we have a new outrage associated with four years of unfettered access: a sharp rise in housing prices.

A new working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that the record surge in illegal immigration under the Biden administration was a major driver of that increase. Economists estimate that unauthorized immigrant worker flows accounted for roughly 30 percent of home-price growth and about 20 percent of rent growth in the average metro area between March 2021 and March 2024. Immigration wasn’t the only factor nationwide, but the scale of the effect cannot be dismissed.

Biden’s open border from 2021 to 2024 led to what the paper describes as an “unprecedented boom” in unauthorized immigration, adding an estimated seven million people to the U.S. population during that time. Researchers found that a one percent increase in unauthorized workers relative to a local workforce corresponded to roughly a one percent increase in overall employment, with no measurable drop in wages. That same one percent increase in unauthorized workers was associated with about a 2.2 percent rise in home prices and a 1.4 percent increase in rents, as demand for housing outpaced the supply of homes being built to meet it.

Open Borders and Runaway Welfare Spending

The Biden administration’s border policies weren’t the only demand-side pressure on housing. Washington’s own spending decisions poured fuel on the same fire. The American Rescue Plan sent a fresh round of stimulus checks and extended enhanced unemployment benefits well into the recovery, pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into an economy that was already short on homes to sell and apartments to rent. Federal rental assistance programs and an extended eviction moratorium added more dollars chasing the same limited supply of housing, whose tenants were incentivized to not pay rent or move, while doing little to add a single new unit of housing and increased rents justified by low inventory.

Economists across the political spectrum, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who warned the plan would “overheat the economy” before it even passed, have pointed to this wave of pandemic-era spending as a major contributor to the broader inflation Americans have been facing since 2021.

Reforms That Turn the Relief Valve

Besides closing the open border, President Trump has taken several steps to help Americans achieve the American Dream of homeownership. There’s more that can be done. Here’s the latest from FGA:

Research: President Trump’s Crackdown on Institutional Investors Will Unlock Homeownership

Institutional investors now own more than 450,000 single-family homes nationwide, crowding out families who just want a starter home.

Commentary: Thousands of Illegal Aliens Live in Taxpayer-Funded Housing. Trump Is Ending It.

For years, HUD used illegal workarounds to skip citizenship verification on public housing applications, and the Trump administration is finally shutting them down.

Research: How to Stop Foreign Buyers From Killing the American Dream of Homeownership

Foreign investors, many from China, Canada, and Mexico, spent $56 billion buying up American homes last year alone.

Statement: FGA Applauds Executive Order Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction

Red tape and burdensome environmental reviews are driving up the cost of building new homes across the country.

Public Comment: FGA Action Comment on FR-6524-P-01 Housing and Community Development Act of 1980: Verification of Eligible Status

HUD’s proposed rule closes loopholes that have allowed federal housing assistance to flow to individuals whose eligibility has never been verified.