Illegal immigration is worsening Americas housing crunch and inflating costs for working families, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner warned this week.
Appearing on The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Turner argued that the unprecedented border surge is directly undermining housing affordability for citizens, as reported by WND. He said more than 12 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States unchecked and unvetted, overwhelming an already tight housing market and leaving American families to absorb the consequences.
You have 12 million or more illegals coming across our border that have been unchecked and unvetted. When you come in, that hurts the housing supply, Turner told host Greta Van Susteren. It makes the cost of housing go up. In certain cities around our country, in particular L.A. and New York, 100% of the increase in rental demand is because of illegal immigration.
Turner stressed that this influx, occurring outside the legal immigration system, has sharply increased demand without any corresponding rise in supply. The result, he said, is a predictable spike in rents and home prices that hits working- and middle-class Americans hardest while big-city leaders continue to prioritize sanctuary policies over citizens needs.
In response, Turner said the administration is reorienting federal housing policy to put American households first. And so weve been taking measures at HUD to make sure that any HUD funds that pertain to housing are for the American people and American people only. The president has taken bold action, as youve seen, in banning institutional investors from buying up single-family homes, Turner added.
He described a broader strategy aimed at both protecting the supply of homes for families and easing the cost of borrowing. These homes are meant for American families and not institutions. Also working with Director [William] Pulte over at FHFA [Federal Housing Finance Agency] to buy $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities to bring down the cost of borrowing. And so, as youve seen, theres bold action taking place not only on the rental side but also to help people in America to be able to afford to buy a home, Turner said.
Turners comments align with President Trumps Jan. 7 pledge that his administration will block large investment firms from snapping up single-family houses, a practice conservatives have long criticized as pricing young and first-time buyers out of the market. While some economists told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a chronic shortage of homes is the deeper structural problem, Turner argued that mass illegal immigration and Wall Street speculation are making a bad situation worse.
The numbers underscore the strain on American families trying to achieve homeownership in this environment of open borders and tight supply. U.S. homeowners paid a median price of $415,200 for an existing house in October 2025, up sharply from $271,100 five years earlier, according to Yahoo Finance, while the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it is holding benchmark interest rates at 3.5% to 3.75% after three cuts earlier in 2025, leaving many buyers still struggling to keep pace with rising prices and limited inventory.
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