Brace yourself, folks—housing affordability for America’s most vulnerable just took another gut punch, courtesy of a federal report that’s raising eyebrows and tempers alike.

A recent Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) analysis lays bare how a massive influx of foreign-born residents during the Biden administration has sent home prices and rents skyrocketing, leaving low-income Americans in the lurch, Breitbart reported. 

HUD’s annual report on “worst-case housing needs” focuses on low-income households who shell out over half their income on housing without any government aid.

Unpacking the Housing Crisis Data

Between 2021 and 2023, the number of such struggling households held steady at a staggering 8.46 million—numbers that rival the toughest years just before.

But here’s the kicker: HUD points a finger at a historic surge in immigration as a primary driver of this ongoing mess.

From 2021 to 2024, the U.S. foreign-born population ballooned by over 6 million, marking the largest short-term increase ever recorded in our history.

Record Migration Fuels Demand Surge

That population now tops 53 million, the highest share of total U.S. residents on record, and it’s no surprise that housing demand has spiked alongside it.

In some regions, this wave of new arrivals accounts for nearly all recent growth in housing needs, per the HUD findings.

The result? Sky-high prices and rents that hit the poorest Americans hardest, as supply struggles to keep pace with this unprecedented pressure.

Low-Income Renters Squeezed Tightest

HUD’s data paints a grim picture: fewer than 60 affordable units exist for every 100 very low-income renters, and the ratio drops to under 40 for extremely low-income families.

The report pulls no punches, noting, “This year’s report shows two realities. The first is that economic growth has been insufficient to lift the wages of low-income renting families high enough to make rent affordable,” (HUD report).

Reality number two? National policies pushing record immigration levels have kept rental demand—and prices—on a relentless upward climb, leaving little relief in sight, as the same report underscores.

Official Voices and Policy Proposals

HUD Secretary Scott Turner didn’t mince words on Fox Business Channel, stating, “We cannot forgo the thought that because of illegal immigration, because of people coming to our country, prices have risen, supply has been squeezed.”

Turner’s frustration is palpable, and his push for solutions—slashing Federal Reserve interest rates and continuing deportations of unauthorized migrants occupying housing—signals a call for action over empty progressive promises.

While empathy for those seeking a better life remains, the hard truth is that unchecked border policies have real consequences for Americans already scraping by. Let’s hope policymakers take note before the housing ladder slips even further out of reach for the nation’s most vulnerable.