Hearing Interrupts on Housing Inflation Debate
This week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Waters attempted to make her case that housing inflation worsened under the Trump administration.
Throughout the hearing, Waters pointed out rising home prices and rents, attributing the blame to tariffs during Trump’s term. Bessent, however, countered her claims, turning the focus toward immigration policies of the Biden administration. He stated, “For housing, especially for working Americans, Wharton’s research indicated that mass unrestricted immigration added 10 to 20 million new people seeking housing, which led to significant housing inflation for working-class Americans. You and the Biden administration should be ashamed.”
A recent study from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania supports this, revealing a strong link between immigration and housing trends, consistent with earlier findings over the past twenty years.
Interestingly, in January, rent prices reached their lowest levels in four years, largely because of strict immigration enforcement, which has reportedly led to around 2.2 million illegal immigrants being deported or leaving voluntarily.
Bessent, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, emphasized the basic principles of supply and demand, stating that as millions of foreign nationals enter the U.S., demand for limited housing increases, consequently driving up prices.
In an announcement this month, the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) indicated that Biden’s immigration efforts have further elevated prices for low-income Americans who do not receive public assistance. According to their study, “One of the primary sources of increased worst-case needs is immigration. From 2021 to 2024, the foreign-born population of the United States grew by more than 6 million people, the largest increase in a brief period in U.S. history.”
The HUD study continues, emphasizing that the rise in immigrant households is a significant factor in escalating housing demand, stating, “In fact, in some markets, immigrants have accounted for nearly all of the increase in housing demand in recent years.”
