Answer: Why do we have a housing crisis in America, and how much does illegal immigration actually contribute to it?

For context, this is a question I answered on Quora

We have a housing crisis in America because we have a severe supply shortage that is an inevitable result of an unsustainable system of speculation driven suburban sprawl created by generous federal subsidies after WWII. Illegal aliens are likely a minor fuel source for the current garbage fire. 2 years ago, the Migration Policy Institute estimated that about 4.3 million illegal aliens own homes. That’s not 4.3 million homes, but 4.3 million owners; 70% of them are living in mixed legal status households with current visa holders, permanent residents and/or citizens. Thus, the vast majority of illegal alien homeowners either jointly own property with a legal spouse or hold a tenancy in common with other family members or have property rights interest through a trust set up for their family so their impact on the current housing shortage is minimal contrary to what Trump’s DHS would like you to believe.

Legal immigration is a much larger contributing factor to our housing shortage but still isn’t the ignition source or the main fuel source but more like water on a grease fire. As I noted in prior answer they only move rent and house prices up in a 1:1–1.6 ratio with population influx in urban cores with an up to 9.6% increase in home prices within surrounding metro areas for every 1% increase in the immigrant population.

NIMBY Boomer assholes who use their control over city councils and zoning boards to impose land use restrictions that make affordable housing practically illegal are by far the main contributors to the shortage and the arsonist is the federal government that started throwing billions at speculation driven sprawl after WWII, which as I noted several years ago started with the New Deal and continues with New Deal holdovers like the FHA and Fannie Mae