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Comment by frumplestlatz

4 months ago

Does supply and demand apply or not? Building houses increases supply. Deportations reduce demand.

Immigrants make up 32.5% of construction workers[0] so without them we're unable to build new housing unless you have a solution to the falling birth rate and human capital. Also, they're more likely to reside with extended family or non-family members[1] (i.e. not eating up single family home supply)

So yes, while they might have some effect on housing supply, deporting them won't make a dent in prices. If you believe that deportations = cheaper houses, then I have a bridge to sell you. Too many localities have strict building regulations that artifically keep housing prices inflated; deportations won't do anything to fix that.

0: https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/industry-issues/labor-and-empl...

1: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/02/living-arrangements...