The surge in illegal immigration into the United States is worsening the country's housing crisis, putting upward pressure on property prices, and contributing to the homelessness problem.
An influx of illegal aliens tends to add to the demand for homes and push up prices, and many cities don't have enough affordable homes or shelters to house the rapidly swelling number of people. As property prices rise because of surging demand, some residents can get priced out of the market, becoming homeless.
In Chicago, there were 6,139 homeless residents (pdf) as of Jan. 26, according to a Chicago Department of Family and Support Services count. The city had almost 9,500 illegal immigrants as of Sept. 15, according to data from the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.Chicago's severely underfunded homelessness system has led to fighting for scarce resources,” the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement to Axios.
In New York, which is facing a serious illegal immigrant issue, the government is obliged to provide shelter to any individual who makes such a request. At the beginning of September, the city was sheltering almost 60,000 asylum seekers, according to data from the city's Comptroller's office.
Earlier this year, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) raised the issue of illegal immigrants straining the housing supply.If you think about what it means to have 20 [million] or 25 million undocumented, illegal immigrants in a country, in a situation where we’re not building enough housing ... that puts incredible pressure—you have way more buyers for way fewer homes,” he said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in February.
“And that puts incredible pressure on homebuyers and people who just want to live a good life.”
In the past fiscal year alone, more than 2.7 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States, according to nationwide encounter data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
