Contrary to what many might think, a homeless person you spy on the street is not necessarily addicted or mentally ill or even lazy. He may, in fact, be employed, with a decent job. He just doesn’t have anywhere to live.
The Washington Post today published an article examining the phenomenon of the working homeless, titled, “More of America’s homeless are clocking into jobs each day.” The article reads:
Homelessness, already at a record high last year, appears to be worsening among people with jobs, as housing becomes further out of reach for low-wage earners, according to shelter interviews and upticks in evictions and homelessness tallies around the country.
And just why has housing become so expensive?
Competition largely. Competition for both labor and rent from the 10 million-plus illegal migrants the Biden administration has welcomed into this country over past three-plus years. Earlier this month, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) asked Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell about the impact of so many aliens on national housing costs. Although anxious to make the case that illegal immigration is “neutral” on inflation, Powell was forced to admit that, in the case of housing, its impact is negative:
[Y]ou’re talking about housing specifically. I’m sure there are places in the country where new people coming into the country … will have contributed to an already tight housing market.
Other members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors agree:
“While the long-run effect of increased immigration on inflation is unclear, immigrants nonetheless need a place to live, and their arrival in the U.S. has likely also increased demand for housing,” said Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said on May 7. [Emphasis added.]
“Given the current low inventory of affordable housing, the inflow of new immigrants to some geographic areas could result in upward pressure on rents, as additional housing supply may take time to materialize,” Michelle W. Bowman, another board member, said June 25. [Emphasis added.]
Thanks to the Biden administration, American workers are laboring under a double whammy: competing foreign workers are driving down their wages while pushing up their housing costs. The result: even if they’ve got jobs, they lack the resources to rent a house or apartment.
For more, see Breitbart News.