By Billal RahmanShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security has publicly encouraged citizens to report migrants without legal status in their area, framing the action as a potential pathway to more affordable housing.
"Want affordable housing? Help report illegal aliens in your area," DHS wrote in a post on X.
However, the executive director of Protecting Immigrant Families told Newsweek the comments are a "smokescreen."
DHS's post comes against a backdrop of acute housing shortages and rising unaffordability across the United States. According to one 2025 analysis, the U.S. faces a shortfall of about two million homes, a gap driven both by under-building and the formation of “pent-up households” that never materialized because of high costs.
...Rentals in particular are under pressure. Nearly half of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and many struggle with steep rent increases.
Homeownership has become increasingly out of reach. The combination of rising prices, insufficient new housing stock, growing rental demand, and limited affordability has put large numbers of renters and prospective homeowners under pressure.
Adriana Cadena, executive director of Protecting Immigrant Families, a coalition of over 800 organizations, told Newsweek the DHS remarks are a "smokescreen."
"Trump's tariffs are driving the cost of living up across the economy, and housing is no exception. The Trump administration only knows one tune — if there's a problem, blame immigrants — and as always, this is a smokescreen," Cadena told Newsweek.
"In fact, immigrants account for almost a third of the nation's housing workforce, driving supply growth that helps to mitigate tariff-driven housing price increases. If you want affordable housing, report your GOP congressman for standing with Trump against their own constituents."
Some argue that undocumented immigrants add to housing demand, potentially exacerbating shortages. A report from J.P. Morgan suggests that undocumented immigrants may be contributing to overall demand, thereby further straining a tight market.
A research paper from the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin finds that immigration does increase housing demand and can raise shelter prices, but its overall contribution to U.S. price growth is small, around 2 percent.
But researchers caution that the picture is more complicated. Analysis by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) found that although immigrants, both documented and undocumented, do contribute to household growth and housing demand, their arrival is only one factor among many. In fact, during the recent pandemic-era housing boom, much of the spike in rents and home prices was driven by native-born household formation amid chronic undersupply.
“While immigrants do add to overall housing demand, they cannot be blamed for the recent surge in home prices and rents that took off in 2020 and 2021, even as immigration reached its lowest levels in decades due to the pandemic," Dr. Chris Herbert, managing director, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, told Newsweek. "Immigration started to surge in 2022 and peaked in 2023, even as growth in home prices and rents slowed dramatically. Trends in interest rates and the pandemic-induced demand for housing were mostly responsible for the recent trends in housing costs.”
Immigrants have historically contributed significantly to overall housing wealth: one study estimates that the roughly 40 million immigrants in the U.S. have helped generate around $3.7 trillion in housing wealth, partly by stabilizing neighborhoods where home values might otherwise have declined.
Immigrants also contribute to the supply side, with many working in construction, helping the housing industry respond to demand.
The Trump administration's call for citizens to report undocumented immigrants as a pathway to “affordable housing” highlights deep anxieties around housing and migration. But while the housing shortage and affordability crisis are real and severe, the evidence that immigration, particularly undocumented immigration, is a primary driver remains contested.
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