At Tuesday evening’s vice-presidential debate, CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan was seemingly unaware that a growing pile of research shows mass immigration tends to increase housing costs and rents. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) promised to provide evidence after the debate.
“Senator … I’d like for you to clarify. There are many contributing factors to high housing costs. What evidence do you have that migrants are part of this problem?” Brennan asked Vance.
“Well there’s a Federal Reserve study, and we’ll put it up on social media, that really drills down on the connection between increased levels of migration, especially illegal immigration, and higher housing prices,” Vance responded.
Following the debate, Vance posted research from the Federal Reserve mentioned in a recent speech by Michelle Bowman, a member of the Border of Governors of the Federal Reserve:
“Given the current low inventory of affordable housing, the inflow of new immigrants to some geographic areas could result in upward pressure on rents, as additional housing supply may take time to materialize,” Bowman said in the speech from May.
Likewise, Vance shared research published in the Journal of Housing Economics which found a similar trend — mainly that high levels of immigration to the United States tend to increase housing costs.
“Immigration inflows into a particular [Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSAs)] is associated with increases in rents and with house prices in that MSA while also seeming to drive up rents and prices in neighboring MSAs,” the researchers noted:
We find that an increase in immigration inflows into a particular MSA is associated with increases in rents and with house prices in that MSA while also seeming to drive up rents and prices in neighboring MSAs. The patterns observed in the rental and house price markets, along with the larger spillover effects, are consistent with native-flight from immigrant receiving areas. [Emphasis added]
…
We argue that immigration can be an important factor that drives house prices and rents, in particular, given immigrant’s recent and projected contributions to U.S. population growth. In principle, new immigrant demand for housing coupled with an upward-sloping housing supply in metropolitan areas (where immigrants tend to settle) would be expected to yield rising rents and prices (Saiz, 2007). [Emphasis added]
Vance also posted research from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which studied the broad impact high levels of immigration have on the American economy. One of those findings states that mass immigration typically drives up housing costs and rents.
“The research literature has generally found that increases in immigration raise state and local governments’ spending — particularly on education, health care, and housing — more than their revenues,” the CBO states. “The impact, which depends on the size of the immigrant population and local policy choices about spending and taxation, varies greatly across jurisdictions.”
Though unmentioned by Vance, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a similar admission in July of this year in an exchange with the Ohio senator.
“I’m sure there are places in the country where new people coming into the country, I’m sure you can find places and they exist, where that will have contributed to an already tight housing market,” Powell said when asked by Vance the connection between housing prices and immigration.
Since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office, nearly 7 million migrants have been added to the U.S. population. At the same time, economists say sky-high housing costs are preventing current inflation from decreasing.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
