Migrants Are Causing A Global Housing Crisis

What’s happening: Rent and housing costs are skyrocketing in America, Europe, and other wealthy and developed nations amid a global migration boom from the third world. Migration is up 80 percent since before the pandemic as immigrants search for new jobs in nations with lenient border policies. The demand for housing greatly exceeds supply. Here’s how different countries are faring:

• 🇨🇦 Canada: With nearly a million new migrants last year alone, housing and rent prices are surging to new heights. Even some new immigrants are leaving.

• 🇪🇺 Europe and the UK: Despite right-wing populist victories across Europe regarding immigration, European governments continue offering legal pathways for millions. Nations are missing supplies or home-buildingtargetsfor construction.

• 🇦🇺 Australia seems eager to keep migration flowing even as its cities face 25 percent increases in rent since before the pandemic. The country welcomed over 400,000 migrants since June 2022 despite its population of only 26 million.

• 🇺🇸 United States: Almost a million legal immigrants arrived in the U.S. last year alone despite a tight housing market. Illegal immigration is happening much faster — over a million illegally entered the country in the first four months of 2023. There simply are not enough homes for millions of new arrivals as the U.S. faces a growing deficit.

Why it matters: In the West — and America, especially — the dream of purchasing and owning a home offers a promise of opportunity and stability. But this is now increasingly out of reach. As housing prices rise, so does inflation, making the everyday cost of living worse for ordinary people.

Between the lines: Many argue that high migration rates lead to increased corporate profits, cheap labor, and more consumption. But rising housing costs, healthcare costs, welfare costs, crime, and a lack of assimilation call into question the overall benefit.