Illegal Immigrants and Sky High Housing Prices in the US; the Post is flat wrong AGAIN
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/18/immigration-housing-costs-trump/
I thought some folks out there might enjoy an occasional blog about how bad my hometown paper is at reporting facts and committing “journalism” on issues political. I know, I know, its too easy. Even after even I have to admit, the paper has gotten much better in the past few months. Some of the “news” A section is even a little bit even handed! First time since Obama was elected. Nevertheless; I would give the Post a D for accuracy and balance.
So for my opening screed, I take the Post to task for its silly piece about the housing affordability crisis. Now the cost of homes and rental property has gone way, way UP. We have 42M illegals living, indoors, in homes and apartments in this country. We likely have another 10M students, HB1 visa holders, etc. living here. In homes. So lets assume that the average occupancy by illegals is like most Americans, say 2.5/home. This means illegals ccupy 16.8M homes legal non citizens 4M more. And in some places, 60% of subsidized housing units are occupied by illegals.
The ComPost says that the problem is that we don’t have enough homes, which naturally is Trumps fault for some reason. (When did you last see him building homes for Habitat for Humanity?)
I beg to differ. Overall ownership rates vs historical norms fell 3.4%, and among young adults, a 15% drop. WE have about 260M adults (18+) in the US. If the average occupancy of owned homes is about 2.5 people, then we have 8.8M fewer adults living in homes they own than historical norms. So one may infer that if half of the illegals in the country went home, we could rebalance prices at a lower number, while returning home ownership to its traditional levels. And make a whole lot of American CITIZENS happier.
Now I believe there are serious impediments, both structural and legal, to the building of MORE homes. Zoning laws, for example. Added costs to building homes dictated by local building codes. High property taxes, is another one. Rarely mentioned by media anywhere. About $4,300 for the average property owner, (5% of median household income). The conversion of homes to AirBNBs is another; (2 million listings). Mortgage interest rates are at historically typical rates, so thats not the problem.
Taking all of these together, I think one can conclude that the main problem is illegal immigrants living in homes Americans COULD and SHOULD be living in. And one aspect of economic theory I subscribe to is that price of anything, is dictated by the meeting of supply with demand. Lower demand, lower price.
What does the ComPost have to say to this? Well, Illegals need to have somewhere to live you see. In fact, having housing in America is essentially a human right for any of the 8 billion souls on the planet that do not already live here. From the Post:
“But the administration’s sharp focus on immigrants contrasts with economists’ widely held view that the problem comes from housing shortages.Many experts say decades of too-little construction, combined with the pandemic-era spike in prices, yanked rents and home prices well above what many Americans can afford. Lengthy permitting processes for new builds, steep building costs and a shrinking supply of affordable units have also contributed to a shortfall of 1.5 million to 4 million homes, according to economist estimates“.
Typical Economist
So much for economists. (Confession: I was an Economics major). Noted author Nassim Taleb calls all economists charlatans; (you know, frauds). Here is another example which proves his point. What have is not too much DEMAND, say economists. But not enough SUPPLY. But since the DEMAND for housing for illegals cannot be questioned relative to Americans, the problem is SUPPLY. But I question the assertion that illegals have a right to be here and be housed. (the Federal US criminal code says otherwise).
The absurdity of such an assertion is manifest and obvious. Note the demand for housing by illegals is exacerbated by the fact that millions of them receive housing subsidies, if not for free. You want to increase demand for something, try giving it away!
I found all the data contained in this blog in about an hour. The ComPost published this article without doing any relevant research at all. They talked to a few economists, or looked up their charlatanic posts and cited them. This kind of “reporting” is not only criminally lazy, but leads to highly misleading conclusions.
Highly misleading and dubious conclusions should be masthead of the Post.
Sources of Info follows
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AI Overview
The average number of people per owner-occupied household in the U.S. is approximately 2.54 persons, according to 2019-2023 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
This figure refers to the total number of individuals residing in owner-occupied units, regardless of their age. The overall average household size across all U.S. households (both owner and renter-occupied) was 2.51 people in 2023, a number that has been gradually declining over several decades.
To those dubious of my assertion that we have 42M illegals in this country, I refer you to the Yale study of 2021 which gave a range of 16-29M. I take it for granted that Yale, which was trying to prove the number was less than 11M, tried hard to minimize the problem of illegals in this country. So I take the 29M number, likely on the low side to begin with, then added the 13M illegals Biden invited to come and who accepted the invitation. Voila, 42M. I admit to likley flaws in my estimates, but using the logic and data cited, plus my personal experience with the Asian population in my area (15-20% I would say), I assert that I am in the ball park here.
Billy Bushwood's BS Blog 