California Gov. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gavin-newsom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gavin Newsom</a> killed a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to be eligible for a housing program where they could receive an interest-free loan worth up to $150,000 for a home purchase.
On Friday, Newsom vetoed the bill proposed by Democratic Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno that would make illegal immigrants eligible for California’s Home Purchase Assistance Program, which allows some first-time home buyers to get up to $150,000 in interest-free loans for a home down payment, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/sacramento/news/newsom-vetoes-bill-undocumented-immigrants-home-loans-california/">CBS News</a> reported.
&#8220;Given the finite funding available for CalHFA programs, expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively,&#8221; Newsom said in a message <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AB-1840-Veto-Message.pdf">addressed to members of the state Assembly</a> after vetoing the bill.
At a briefing later that day, Newsom defended his move to kill the bill, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/06/newsom-california-undocumented-immigrants-homes-00177748">Politico</a> reported.
“The bill that was sent to me was [on] a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom said.
“It seemed rather curious to me,” he added. “So it was unnecessary and completely consistent with prior vetoes along those similar lines.”
The bill passed 53-18 in the state Assembly and 25-14 in the Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.
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No Republicans in the Assembly or Senate voted in favor of the proposal and argued that the bill’s passage would continue to incentivize illegal immigration and create unfair competition for American citizens struggling to buy a home, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ca-dems-pass-bill-to-give-illegal-immigrants-up-to-150k-interest-free-home-loans">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
“It’s a slap in the face to legal immigrants when we incentivize the breaking of our laws and the normalizing of being in this country unlawfully,” said Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R). “We need to close our border. This is a problem of our own making. We have made the borders wide open, millions of people are coming over and now the state of California is creating a huge incentive for those who came here illegally to come to California.”
Newsom’s veto comes a day after former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump</a> talked about the “flood” of millions of people entering the country illegally, which he said has driven up housing costs.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump delivers speech to Economic Club of New York" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/74syVUaMF_I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
During a speech at the Economic Club of New York, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74syVUaMF_I">Trump</a> talked about the proposed CA bill and vowed to &#8220;ban mortgages for illegal aliens.&#8221;
Trump also vowed that, when president, he would ask “Congress to pass legislation barring all tax-payer funded benefits” to illegal immigrants.
Leif Mahieu contributed to this piece.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)

Gavin Newsom Kills Bill That Would Give Illegal Immigrants Massive Help To Buy Homes

California

Gavin Newsom

Housing

Illegal Immigration

Politics

Democrats in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> passed a bill on Wednesday that allows illegal immigrants to be eligible for a housing program where they could receive an interest-free loan worth up to $150,000 for a home purchase.  
The <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> makes illegal immigrants eligible for California’s Home Purchase Assistance Program, which allows some first-time home buyers to get up to $150,000 in interest-free loans for a home down payment. The bill passed 53-18 in the state Assembly and 25-14 in the Senate and now heads to Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom&#8217;s desk. No Republicans in the Assembly or Senate voted in favor of the proposal.
According to the legislation, no one applying for the loan can be “disqualified solely based on the applicant’s immigration status.” The state has already spent more than half a billion on the program for nearly 4,000 loans. 
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The legislation was introduced by Democrat Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who said the proposal would help attract people with a good credit score. 
“So for those who have a good credit score and who qualify for a loan, we are saying that we want you to set roots here in our great state if you qualify, only if you qualify,” he said, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-29/california-lawmakers-approve-home-mortgage-aid-to-undocumented-immigrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Los Angeles Times. 
Republicans argued that the bill&#8217;s passage would continue to incentivize illegal immigration and create unfair competition for American citizens struggling to buy a home. 
“It’s a slap in the face to legal immigrants when we incentivize the breaking of our laws and the normalizing of being in this country unlawfully,” said Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R). “We need to close our border. This is a problem of our own making. We have made the borders wide open, millions of people are coming over and now the state of California is creating a huge incentive for those who came here illegally to come to California.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
California democrats love illegal immigration so much they offer many incentives for them to come here.
Today, the Assembly just voted to give illegal immigrants free down payment assistance (up to $150k) to buy a house a new home. Thats on top of providing free health care and… <a href="https://t.co/qGJ4OIcLCG">pic.twitter.com/qGJ4OIcLCG</a>
— Bill Essayli (@billessayli) <a href="https://twitter.com/billessayli/status/1828949867575816541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher said the legislation would worsen the border crisis. 
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“I didn’t know it was possible to make the border crisis and the housing crisis worse with just one vote, but Democrats found a way,” he <a href="https://x.com/J_GallagherAD3/status/1829014739382612000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “Giving taxpayer-funded housing subsidies to illegal immigrants will drive costs even higher and encourage more chaos at the border.”
The San Diego border sector has become one of the hotspots for unlawful crossings in recent months, with the Biden-Harris administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-released-72-of-illegal-migrants-who-entered-san-diego-sector-despite-supposed-crackdown">reportedly</a> releasing thousands of illegal immigrants who had been apprehended.

U.S. President Joe Biden Unveils Immigration Order Severely Limiting Asylum-seeker Crossings

CA Dems Pass Bill To Give Illegal Immigrants Up To $150K Interest-Free Home Loans

Economy

U.S. Politics

Vice President Kamala Harris was slammed on Friday as she announced a plan to give first-time homeowners $25,000 from the federal government for a down payment on a house.
Harris officially unrolled the plan during her Friday afternoon rally in North Carolina. The vice president <a href="https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1824519283705028690" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> that a Harris-Walz administration would give working families up to $25,000 in down payment assistance if they have paid their rent on time for two years and are first-time buyers. Those who are first-generation homeowners would get more assistance than other first-time homeowners, ABC News reporter Selina Wang <a href="https://x.com/selinawangtv/status/1824209836474597457" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on X after getting details about the proposal from a Harris campaign official.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance ripped Harris&#8217; housing proposal, warning that it would be used to give illegal immigrants &#8220;American homes.&#8221;
&#8220;Kamala Harris wants to give $25,000 to illegal aliens to buy American homes. This will only further exacerbate the housing shortage in our country. It&#8217;s a disgrace,&#8221; Vance <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1824447704937758778" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. &#8220;We should be making it easier and more affordable for American citizens to buy homes.&#8221;
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Vance addressed the U.S. housing crisis on Wednesday, telling supporters in Michigan, “Americans, especially young people, are becoming paupers in their own country. If we don’t do better, our young generation, they’re not going to own anything, they’re not going to have anything, they’re going to be renters in the country that their parents and grandparents built. Inflation is a disaster.&#8221;
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2028-commie-la-harris-soviet-style-joy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Harris&#8217; proposal will only &#8220;flush money down the toilet&#8221; because it will give handouts &#8220;to people who cannot afford to pay for the mortgage.&#8221;
He added that all of Harris&#8217;s &#8220;market interventionism is simply a sop to people who want free stuff from the federal government. And by the way, it ain&#8217;t free. We all get to pay for it, or rather, all of our children get to pay for it.&#8221;
Median home prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration, hitting a peak of $479,500 in the fourth quarter of 2022. The median home price dropped in 2023, but it remains higher than during the final months of the Trump administration, according to <a href="https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/median-home-price-by-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rocket Homes</a>.
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On Friday, Harris also announced a proposal to institute price controls on groceries. Her plan would be “the first-ever federal ban on corporate price-gouging” if it were to go into effect, NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor <a href="https://x.com/Yamiche/status/1823909069742096813" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. Conservatives also blasted Harris for the price control plan, comparing it to the Soviet Union practices that resulted in food shortages.
Trump <a href="https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1824187031875928343" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slammed</a> Harris on Thursday, saying at a press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, “Now Kamala is reportedly proposing communist price controls, she wants price controls. And if they worked, I’d go along with it, too, but they don’t work. They actually have the exact opposite impact and effect and it leads to food shortages, rationing, hunger, dramatically more inflation.”

Kamala Harris

Kamala Ripped For Plan To Give First-Time Homeowners Federal Handouts

Kamala To Propose $25K In Down Payment Assistance For First-Time Homeowners

2024 Election

Ben Shapiro

Donald Trump

Elections

Federal Government

JD Vance

Young Americans &#8220;are becoming paupers in their own country&#8221; as inflation and housing costs have increased under the Biden-Harris administration, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said on Wednesday.
During his speech in Byron Center, Michigan, Vance focused on the economic woes facing Americans and argued that the younger generation of U.S. adults is experiencing challenges in the housing market that their parents and grandparents did not face.
&#8220;Americans, especially young people, are becoming paupers in their own country. If we don’t do better, our young generation, they’re not going to own anything, they’re not going to have anything, they’re going to be renters in the country that their parents and grandparents built. Inflation is a disaster,&#8221; Vance said, according to <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/08/14/jd-vance-speaking-economy-in-kent-county-michigan/74771249007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Detroit News</a>.
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Median home prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed, hitting a peak of $479,500 in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to <a href="https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/median-home-price-by-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rocket Homes</a>. At the end of 2020, the final months of the Trump administration, the median home price was $358,700. Rent prices in the U.S. have also increased by around 19% since 2019, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/rent-average-by-county-change-rising-falling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, making it harder for young Americans to save money for the increasing costs of owning a home.
While inflation dropped to 2.9% last month, it is still <a href="https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">higher</a> than it was during most of Trump&#8217;s presidency. The inflation rate hit a staggering 9.1% in June 2022 before it began to drop.
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Vance said a priority of the Trump-Vance administration would be to lower energy costs, which he argued would, in turn, bring down the cost of housing. Trump made similar comments in July when addressing the housing crisis.
&#8220;When the economy gets better, it&#8217;s hard to get better when you have high energy prices,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/how-donald-trump-plans-fix-housing-market-1811663" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> a crowd of supporters in Iowa. &#8220;We&#8217;ll get the prices way down and then the interest rates down and then the home builders will start building again, because nobody can get money from the bank because the interest rate&#8217;s high.&#8221;
The Republican vice presidential candidate and Ohio senator also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-predicts-key-battleground-state-will-become-part-of-red-wall-because-people-are-sick-of-losing-their-livelihoods" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> Michigan&#8217;s &#8220;failed leadership,&#8221; saying it has resulted in thousands of jobs disappearing in the Great Lakes State. He predicted the loss of jobs in Michigan would result in voters overwhelmingly turning out in support of Republicans in November.
&#8220;Michigan, people used to call it a blue wall state,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think Michigan is a red wall state now because people are sick of losing their livelihoods and losing their jobs.&#8221;

Vance: Young Americans ‘Are Becoming Paupers’ Due To Inflation, High Housing Costs

Vance: Young Americans 'Are Becoming Paupers' Due To Inflation

Inflation

Joe Biden

Michigan

The Biden-Harris administration recently <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/16/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-major-new-actions-to-lower-housing-costs-by-limiting-rent-increases-and-building-more-homes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> capping rent price increases at 5%. The cap would apply to any landlord that owns more than 50 units, which equates to 20 million rental units nationwide, or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/business/economy/biden-rent-cap-proposal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">roughly 50%</a> of the nation’s total units. I suspect that all Americans agree with the goal of keeping essentials like food, housing, and healthcare affordable. Unfortunately, the proposed price controls – rooted in bad economic assumptions and perhaps some technophobia – are likely to do the opposite.
A third of American households rent, roughly half of which devote <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_article_092214.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 30%</a> of their income to this monthly bill. These renters are frustrated. Rent <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA#0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inflation</a> is 80% higher under Biden-Harris than in the Trump years. And it’s <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/21/rents-prices-swing-states-voters-disenchanted/72794026007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worse</a> in the swing states, where rents have more than doubled over the past four years.
The administration seems to believe its rent cap will counterbalance what it describes as excessive landlord <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/16/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-major-new-actions-to-lower-housing-costs-by-limiting-rent-increases-and-building-more-homes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profits</a>, which it contends have come in part from their increasing use <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/418053.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">of</a> <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/03/price-fixing-algorithm-still-price-fixing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">algorithms</a> i.e., computer programs that suggest rental prices based on supply and demand estimates. 
 
The excess profit accusation is simply wrong. In an attempt to corroborate its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/16/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-major-new-actions-to-lower-housing-costs-by-limiting-rent-increases-and-building-more-homes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claim</a>, the White House <a href="https://accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-06-10-Research-on-Q1-2024-Housing-Profiteering-FINAL.docx.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a> Mid-America Apartment Communities and AvalonBay Communities for their respective 6% and 18% increases in profits during the first quarter of 2024. However, the White House <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MAA/mid-america-apartment-communities/net-income" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conveniently</a> <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AVB/avalonbay-communities/net-income" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ignored</a> these companies’ respective 15.5% and 18.3% profit declines in 2023.
The administration’s stoking fears about algorithmic pricing, including through initiating Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission investigations, is also misplaced.
Today, across most industries, algorithms — powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence — are analyzing large swaths of data to formulate business-guiding insights. Even governments have gotten into the act by using algorithms for numerous purposes, including pricing services. While information generated by these algorithms may sometimes indicate to users that prices can increase, they may also signal that prices should decrease.
Better information on consumers and costs improves price efficiency, and that benefits everyone. Indeed, PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that AI will give North America a <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/data-and-analytics/publications/artificial-intelligence-study.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 15%</a> economic growth boost by 2030 in part due to the improved price efficiency generated by AI.
The housing market has a supply problem, not a price-gouging or technology problem.
Since 2012, the U.S. has <a href="https://www.realtor.com/research/us-housing-supply-gap-feb-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> about four million fewer housing units than new households, which led to shortages that drove up prices. Prices will subside when housing supply responds.
Austin, TX, serves as an instructive example. In the last three months of 2023, builders <a href="https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/housing-market-index/articles/austin-housing-market-forecast#:~:text=In%20the%20last%20three%20months,of%2034%25%20year%20over%20year." target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled</a> 3,890 single-family building permits (a 25% increase from the same period in 2022) and 5,866 multifamily permits (a 34% increase). Between May 2023 and 2024, prices fell by <a href="https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-06-13/austin-texas-rent-prices-falling-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6%</a>.
Rather than craft rent control policies around assumptions of bad behavior and purported negative effects of algorithms, which the government itself uses and <a href="https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-01/CP-AR-19-003.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hopes</a> to use more, the Biden-Harris administration should address America’s housing problems from the supply-side perspective. The White House’s choice to instead impose new government <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/16/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-major-new-actions-to-lower-housing-costs-by-limiting-rent-increases-and-building-more-homes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controls</a> on rents will only decrease housing construction.
Builders are already constructing more high-end units than affordable housing units. That is why, <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/six-takeaways-americas-rental-housing-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">since</a> 2012, the number of units renting for less than $1,000 per month in the U.S. has declined by 6.1 million units while the number of units renting for at least $1,400 grew by 8.4 million units. If the Biden-Harris administration’s rent price cap becomes law, this disparity will grow larger. Builders will have even less incentive to develop new affordable housing options at the new, mandatory discount rate.
The lesson is clear: Market incentives alleviate price and availability problems. More government does not. Hopefully, the Biden-Harris administration comes to the realization sooner rather than later.
* * *
Dr. Mark A Jamison is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on how technology affects the economy. He is also the Director of the Digital Markets Initiative (DMI) at the University of Florida, where he focuses on competition policy and regulation of information technologies, institutional development in regulation, and competition and innovation in the information sectors.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Austin, Texas Housing Prices Decline Most In Nation

The Biden-Harris Plan To Lower Your Rent Will Actually Inflate It

Biden Administration

Economics

Mortgages

Readers Pass

Renters

White House

Americans are facing a new housing crisis, one that makes the crisis of 2008 look like a mere economic blip.
The housing crisis of <a href="https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/mortgages/subprime-mortgage-crisis/#:~:text=The%20subprime%20mortgage%20crisis%20was,to%20the%20global%20financial%20system.">2008</a> was driven by sub-prime mortgages being approved for people who had no financial means to pay for their homes. Many people had variable rate mortgages, and when those rates froze, or increased, people could no longer afford their monthly mortgage payments.
Housing prices collapsed, and many people, myself included, had mortgages that were “underwater,” meaning we owed more than the home was worth. As a result, approximately $3.4 billion in real estate wealth was destroyed.
Today, we have the opposite problem. There is a dearth of homes on the market, those homes that are for sale are priced at a level that excludes the middle class and young Americans from purchasing their first home. Rents are also sky high.
The 2024 housing crisis was infinitely preventable. It is the direct result of President Biden’s failed economic policies, which pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, driving inflation. As a result, the Federal Reserve was forced to raise interest rates, effectively pricing millions of Americans out of the market.
In the first 20 years of the 21st century, there were approximately 5.5 million fewer homes built than were needed, according to the National Association of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/the-housing-shortage-is-hurting-almost-every-part-of-the-economy-8636226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Realtors</a>. In addition, high interest mortgage rates are causing people who want to sell their homes, and move, to sit on their house, as they do not want to lose their low mortgage interest rate, refinanced during COVID.
As a result, the price of homes has increased. By August of 2023, the <a href="https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/median-home-price-by-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">median home price</a> in the United States was at $435,450, up from a <a href="https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/timeline-covid-housing-market-trends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">median sales price</a> of $260,345 at the end of 2019, according to Rocket Homes.
<div id="attachment_760775" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-760775" class="size-large wp-image-760775" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/07/GettyImages-2120209340-864x576.jpg" alt="Blaine, Minnesota. Homes starting at a half million dollars in Lexington Waters is a community with wetlands, trees, and a variety of home options. it is a HOA Maintained lifestyle. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/07/GettyImages-2120209340-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/07/GettyImages-2120209340-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/07/GettyImages-2120209340-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/07/GettyImages-2120209340.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</div>
Biden’s kowtowing to the green mafia has also driven the price of housing up by <a href="https://www.heritage.org/housing/commentary/green-housing-mandates-are-pushing-americans-more-the-red" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$31,000</a>, according to the Heritage Foundation.
It is nearly impossible for all but the richest Americans to afford to purchase a home. More than 75% of the nation’s <a href="https://www.builderonline.com/data-analysis/three-quarters-of-households-are-priced-out-of-the-housing-market_o#:~:text=More%20than%20three%2Dquarters%20of,a%20home%20priced%20at%20%24435%2C750." target="_blank" rel="noopener">households</a> are unable to purchase a home — which is more than 103 million households.
This is why the profile of people living in their parents’ basement has changed. Those living “downstairs” are no longer the high school drop-outs, smoking weed, and playing video games while eating pizza.
In fact, more than 50% of “Gen Zers,” those people 18- to 25-years-old, are now forced to live at <a href="https://www.midstory.org/homeward-bound-why-gen-z-adults-are-living-with-their-parents-at-record-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">home</a>, because they cannot afford either rent or a mortgage.
And that shouldn’t be a shock. To afford a median-priced home, <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/home-affordability-in-current-housing-market-study/#:~:text=on%20housing%20affordability-,To%20afford%20a%20median%2Dpriced%20home%20of%20%24402%2C343%2C%20Americans%20need,since%20the%20start%20of%202020." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Americans</a> need an annual income of more than $110,000, up 46% since 2020. That means that only 18% of <a href="https://www.zippia.com/advice/how-many-people-make-over-100k/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">individuals</a> or 34% of households can now afford to pay the mortgage on a home, let alone save the money for downpayment.
Building new homes may help inventory, but the cost will be high. The cost of construction materials are up more than 35% since the pandemic, according to <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150339906/cost-of-construction-materials-remains-37-higher-than-pre-pandemic-according-to-latest-abc-analysis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a>.
And even if you can afford a home, you may not be able to afford to insure it, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/homeowners-insurance-skyrocketing-how-to-lower-premium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insurance</a> premiums are up 23% since January 2023.
So, why not rent?
From January 2021, when Biden took office, to June 2022, there was a nearly 25% increase in <a href="https://www.doorloop.com/blog/average-rent-by-year-in-the-united-states#:~:text=Looking%20back%20at%20the%20rates,there%20was%20a%2024.2%25%20increase." target="_blank" rel="noopener">rental</a> rates in the United States. And the trend has only continued.
So, the American housing market is in a death spiral. People such as myself are sitting on cheap mortgages. In fact, nearly 80% of <a href="https://investors.redfin.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1030/redfin-report-89-of-people-with-mortgages-have-an#:~:text=Below%205%25%3A%2078.7%25%20have,the%20first%20quarter%20of%202022." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Americans</a> have a rate below 5%. Why would they sell in this market? We won’t sell and we won’t move. This reduces the inventory of homes available for sale, driving the cost of housing up for everyone.
When you also factor in that more than 12 million illegals are now in the United States, demanding housing, rental prices will not come down anytime soon.
The next administration must pursue pro-growth, anti-inflation policies. Eliminate regulations that drive the price of housing up and encourage investment. Grow the economy, not by government spending, but via pro-growth policies, which will result in lower interest rates, thereby increasing the inventory of housing on the market.
The solutions to the housing crisis of 2024 are simple. The question is, will the next president have the courage to implement them.
* * *
Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and the Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Suburban Phoenix Master Planned Community Aerial

Welcome To America’s New Housing Crisis

finance

Interest Rates

Not that it needs saying, but the economy is still a mess. Inflation is high, the value of a dollar isn&#8217;t what it used to be, and interest rates are insane. At the same time, most salaries are not increasing, the job market is terrible, and people are struggling to find work. This combination makes it seem as though it’s not at all possible to buy a home. But is it actually impossible?
Boomers often look at young people and say, “Well, interest rates were even higher in my day, and I still managed to buy a home.” The difference is, salaries increased along with the prices of homes. In 2024, that has not happened. As a result, young people are priced out of the market, especially if they are living in metropolitan areas. However, I believe there is a solution to this bad combination of economic woes.
Conversations about starter homes go viral on X all the time. All it takes is one person tweeting something like this, judging people for “skipping over starter homes” and buying houses that are too expensive, contributing to their own financial demise.
<div id="attachment_753629" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753629" class="wp-image-753629 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ssffd.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="512" height="122" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ssffd.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ssffd-300x71.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: X</div>
To be fair, he’s correct. Expectations should be in check &#8211; based on where you live and what your salary is. But I do not think this is why people are failing financially, nor do I think he has any idea how much a starter home in 2024 actually is. In most relatively metropolitan areas where people are working and commuting to and from, starter homes start at around $300,000. The replies argued as much:
<div id="attachment_753635" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753635" class="wp-image-753635 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fds.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="512" height="72" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fds.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fds-300x42.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: X</div>
<div id="attachment_753633" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753633" class="wp-image-753633 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fdsa.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="512" height="85" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fdsa.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/fdsa-300x50.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: X</div>
<div id="attachment_753631" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753631" class="wp-image-753631 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/hgfs.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="512" height="89" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/hgfs.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/hgfs-300x52.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: X</div>
Now, we have probably all heard the “stop buying avocado toast” argument. When I was in college, my mom would tell me that if I wanted to buy a house someday, I couldn’t spend all my money on Starbucks. I have a love-hate relationship with this statement. On the “love” side, it is true smaller purchases add up. Spending $50 a day on random things here and there ends up being $18,000 at the end of the year. However, on the “hate” side, I think these types of statements trivialize the actual problem at stake, which is that low salaries, high interest rates, and high prices all around make it near impossible to save for a down payment or be able to make a mortgage payment.
Another solution people commonly pose is to live in the middle of nowhere, so you can buy a five-bedroom house for $200,000. While this is true in some parts of the country, many people cannot make this proposed solution work logistically. Although they might be able to afford the house, they might not be able to pull off living in the middle of nowhere because there are no job opportunities, plus schools and grocery stores are 45 minutes away. So, this suggestion just ends up being counterproductive and unhelpful, which some tweets, like this one, are quick to point out:
<div id="attachment_753637" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753637" class="wp-image-753637 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/tfhth.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="512" height="170" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/tfhth.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/tfhth-300x100.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: X</div>
The issue of not being able to afford a house is not just relegated to Gen Z. Wall Street Silver went so far as to question if we even have a middle class, tweeting that “homeownership is no longer a staple of the middle-class American Dream.”
<div id="attachment_753639" style="width: 427px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-753639" class="wp-image-753639 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/yjjyyj.png" alt="Screenshot: X" width="417" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/yjjyyj.png 417w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/yjjyyj-244x300.png 244w" sizes="(max-width: 417px) 100vw, 417px" />Screenshot: X</div>
This should not be the case. People should not just shrug it off, saying, “Oh, well, that’s just life in 2024.” And people should not be stuck in this cycle. So, what is the solution? First, we need to vote accordingly. But until we can do that and until circumstances hopefully change, there are steps you can take. This is not a hopeless situation if you truly want to buy a home.
In Nashville, for example, there are very few homes for sale at or around $300,000, and the ones that are at that price point are not in the safest of areas and they would require a fair amount of renovating. So while you might save money on a down payment, you would spend a pretty penny renovating the entire house. Plus, these homes aren’t even in Nashville proper. You would still be looking at a 20- to 30-minute commute.
That means, if you want a house in Nashville, you have to change your expectations. Since you would already be driving at least 20 minutes from an unsafe, not move-in ready home if you bought at $300,000, could you, instead, add an extra 10 minutes to that drive? If you want to own a home, are you willing to sacrifice a shorter drive for a longer one? If so, you could afford a starter home that is clean, move-in ready, and in a safe area.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/do-affordable-homes-still-exist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Comments Section with Brett Cooper</a></h4>
I know this is possible because I know people who have done it — and I am one of them. The farm my husband and I just bought would have never been in our budget had we lived within 20 minutes of work. So, I spend two hours in the car every single day because that is the house I want to go home to, it is the lifestyle I want to have, and it is the place I want to raise our future children. My producer and her husband similarly worked through this decision a couple months ago, and they bought the cutest historical home outside Nashville where they are actually saving on their mortgage, compared to the rent they had been paying. Which is rare in 2024.
All of this to say, buying an affordable home is possible. All the posts and articles that claim the American Dream of owning a home is completely dead just aren’t true. It might be harder, but it is still possible.
You can buy a house, but you must figure out what your priorities are. If you are willing to make some sacrifices, like driving longer to work, it’s entirely possible. If, however, you don’t want to commute, that is ok, and while the market is truly terrible, renting can still be a mostly affordable option.
The point is, you have to decide what you value and what is most important to you. You must choose where you are going to put your money. That may be different than everyone else around you — and that is ok.
For plenty of people, buying a home isn’t the most important next move and they choose to prioritize other things. For example, after college, my husband moved to New York City for five years where he made incredible connections and created an invaluable network for his career. Instead of buying a house at 23 with a stupidly low interest rate, he chose to move and the return on his career investment was significant. But still, he knew NYC was not where he wanted to be long term, so when those five years lapsed, he reprioritized, moved to Nashville, bought a starter home, met me, and the rest is history.
Now, I do not give these examples to trivialize this problem because there is no getting around the fact the American middle class is disappearing, which has never been the case before. I share these anecdotes to hopefully provide a feeling of empowerment and a reality that there are other options. Life is not as black and white as it may seem on X.
I wish everyone could just buy whatever house they want, but that’s not how the world works. It’s true that life isn’t fair and it never has been. But if you are honest with yourself about what you really value, you’ll be able to prioritize to make life more of what you want. Then, all it takes is some creative, unconventional thinking in determining and realizing there is a way to your goals.
* * *
Note: This article has been edited for clarity.

DSC_6003-1 copy

Yes, The American Dream Is Still Alive. Here’s How To Buy A House In This Market.

Brett Cooper

Gen Z

Opinion

Real estate

Social Media

Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s arch-foe, gave his usual articulate common-sense answer and cogent criticism of Trudeau when a questioner asked him about the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation saying the country needs 5.8 million homes to address its housing crisis.
The questioner said Trudeau’s Liberal Party has claimed that it already has that in the budget and that Poilievre disagreed.
“I don’t disagree; the math disagrees,” Poilievre stated bluntly. “They promised they’re going to double homebuilding. Their own housing agency said since they made that promise, homebuilding has gone down and that it will go down next year and the year after that. Look at my exchange with Trudeau in the House of Commons last week. To get to 3.9 million — forget to 5.9 million — to get to 3.9 million new homes by the scheduled deadline of 2031 that Trudeau promised, he needs to build 550,000 homes a year.”
“I asked him six times in the House of Commons, ‘Are we going to build 550,000 homes this year?’” Poilievre recalled. “He wouldn’t answer. Well, the truth is, he’s on track right now to building about 200,000 homes, not even half of what he’s promised. This is not a matter of me disagreeing; it’s a mathematical fact. He’s not delivering. It’s a mathematical fact that nine years ago when I was Housing Minister, the average rent for a one-bedroom was $973. Now it’s $2,000. These are the facts.”
“Has he spent a lot of money on housing programs? Yes,” Poilievre acknowledged, but pointed out, “He spent $89 billion on housing affordability and the result is that housing costs have doubled. The problem is he’s putting the money into bureaucracy. Government bureaucrats don’t build homes; private sector builders do. Government bureaucrats are in the way. So we need to get the government bureaucracy out of the way and deliver fast, affordable permits to build the homes.”
He got down to bare facts: “One-third of the cost of every newly-built home in Ontario is government permits and taxes. One-third. That’s more than we spend on the labor to build the home. So we’re spending more on the bureaucrats, who don’t build anything, than we do on the carpenters, framers, plumbers, and electricians who build. Isn’t that insane?”
“Like when you buy a house, do you not find it incredible — you have this beautiful house and you say, &#8216;well, where did the money [go]?&#8217;” he said. “I’m buying the house, now say it’s a million dollars. What does the million dollars go to? You know, you break it down: lumber, materials. You think: More money goes to people sitting in government offices than goes to the people swinging the hammers, fitting the pipes, framing the lumber. It doesn’t make sense.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“We need to cut the bureaucracy,” he declared. “And that’s why my common sense plan will require cities [to] free up land, speed up permits, cut development charges and fees, as a condition of getting federal funds. If they don’t hit my targets, they won’t get their money, and they’ll be less of those bureaucrats in those corner offices. So, if they beat the target, they’ll get more money. We’re going to pay our municipalities the way we pay realtors and builders: for the number of homes.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The math disagrees with Trudeau. <a href="https://t.co/u5wLixn56A">pic.twitter.com/u5wLixn56A</a>
&mdash; Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) <a href="https://twitter.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1798011452206321672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Pierre Poilievre Hosts ‘Axe The Tax Campaign Rally’ In Edmonton

Trudeau’s Conservative Arch-Foe Poilievre Uses Facts To Crush Him On Housing Crisis

Canada

Justin Trudeau

Pierre Poilievre

World

A common assumption is that American homeowners are protected from illegal property takeovers.
However, in many cities and states, people are allowed to use laws intended to protect tenants to instead take control of homes over objections from rightful owners. Not only is this immoral, it’s an affront to the private property rights that our founders so highly regarded.
This is a growing problem known as squatting that has been made worse by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/29/us/illegal-border-crossings-data.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> of illegal border crossings in the past few years.
TikTok <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-tiktoker-who-went-viral-urging-migrants-to-take-over-american-homes-is-wanted-by-ice-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">videos</a> from Leonel Moreno, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, encouraging migrants to “invade” unoccupied homes in the United States went viral earlier this year, angering Americans who value property rights and the rule of law.
Moreno crossed the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2022 and later failed to appear at a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was arrested by ICE in March 2024, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/29/us-news/leonel-moreno-the-migrant-influencer-has-been-arrrested/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the New York Post.
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,&#8221; Moreno <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/26/us-news/migrant-influencer-leonel-moreno-cant-afford-attorney-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in one video. &#8220;I came to the U.S. to mark my territory.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Noted migrant now promotes squatting as a business model. <a href="https://t.co/sy8tTIMuzn">pic.twitter.com/sy8tTIMuzn</a>
&mdash; Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) <a href="https://twitter.com/BonillaJL/status/1770593421960306963?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We are facing an unprecedented crisis: we have an invasion at our southern border.
People are entering our country in complete disregard of our laws and, in some cases, continuing their lawless behavior inside the U.S.
President Joe Biden and his administration are fueling this crisis by opening our border and offering no legitimate repercussions for crossing it, even as it affects the property and lives of Americans.
This, coupled with COVID-era eviction moratoriums and housing shortages, has helped spark a rapid rise of squatting, James Burling, vice president of legal affairs at the Pacific Legal Foundation, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/squatting-trend-tipping-point-migrants-coach-others-how-exploit-laws-experts-warn-damage-is-done/">told</a> Fox News. There are many examples of American citizens and even illegal immigrants taking control of homes that don’t belong to them.
CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nypd-finds-many-migrants-guns-ammunition-and-drugs-in-basement-of-bronx-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> several illegal immigrants, including a child under the age of ten, were found squatting in a Bronx home in March with guns and bags of cocaine and ketamine. The home, in a neighborhood another resident described as “quiet,” was across the street from a school.
&#8220;I&#8217;m really fearful that these people are going to get away with stealing my home,&#8221; the homeowner <a href="https://abc7ny.com/squatters-standoff-queens-new-york-city/14540298/'" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time.
A self-identified “professional squatter” in Chicago took over the home of a woman who had just inherited it from her deceased mother. The squatter <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-woman-went-court-multiple-times-before-evicting-squatter-lived-late-mothers-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> lived in the house for months before finally being evicted.
And squatters in one Atlanta suburb <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/06/news/squatters-take-over-1200-homes-in-atlanta-terrorize-neighbors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allegedly</a> turned a 4,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home into an illegal strip club complete with live horses.
“Is this even America anymore? We are homeowners and we can’t even do anything about trespassers?” a distressed neighbor told the New York Post.
Similar scenes are playing out across America, threatening the private property rights and liberties of far too many Americans. There’s even a political movement in Europe encouraging the deceitful practice. We must put a stop to this by placing the power back into the hands of the property owner.
In the years it can take to remove illegal squatters, legitimate owners can accrue thousands of dollars in legal fees, property repairs, and lost revenue.
No American homeowner should be forced out of their property by dishonest people attempting to manipulate the law for any amount of time, let alone years. The problem is that many states make it far too easy.
In California, for example, a squatter can <a href="https://martinezlawcenter.com/squatters-rights-california-30-days/#:~:text=A%20common%20misconception%20is%20that,in%20such%20a%20short%20period." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> claim tenant rights after just 30 days of occupancy, forcing legitimate property owners to go through the legal eviction process to get them out. Several other states have <a href="https://thenationaldesk.com/news/fact-check-team/what-to-know-about-squatters-rights-caretaker-license-to-live-occupants-abandoned-property-british-law-state-decided-adverse-possession-legislation-california-florida-georgia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">similar protections</a>, according to The National Desk.
In Tennessee, we have strengthened our laws to protect homeowners and private property rights.
Property owners should be able to immediately take back what’s rightfully theirs. While the Volunteer State gives no rights to squatters, initiating a judicial eviction can be a time-consuming process.
That is why I worked to pass <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1259&amp;GA=113" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new law</a> ensuring no Tennessean is held hostage by squatters. This law establishes an expedited removal process allowing property owners in this state to restore possession of their property in as little as 72 hours. It also permits the local sheriff to arrest the trespassers.
This common-sense approach prioritizes law-abiding people, not entitled criminals.
Homeownership is the American dream and squatting poses a legitimate risk to that dream. The Biden administration has abandoned all sanity and put Americans at serious risk by refusing to enforce our immigration laws. States can and should pass laws to confront this problem when and where they can.
I encourage other state leaders to use as a model what we have done in Tennessee, what Florida has done, and what other conservative strongholds have done protecting property rights to ensure no American risks losing their land to squatters.
* * *
Tim Rudd represents District 34 in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Houses For Sale In Texas As Existing Homes Sales Figures Released

As Squatters Vow To Take Over American Homes, Lawmakers Need To Take Action

Squatters

Tennessee

An epidemic of squatters is plaguing American homeowners, and they are all the way fed up.
It seems like every day a new horror story emerges of squatters breaking into someone&#8217;s home, living in it for free, and leaving it trashed months later, all while homeowners watch helplessly from the sidelines.
While there&#8217;s no comprehensive data on exactly how many hundreds of squatters the country has, the problem is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/squatters-can-now-come-in-and-steal-your-home-with-no-consequences" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more dire</a> in some areas than in others. A squatter is someone who trespasses and occupies a property with zero legal right to be there.
Georgia, Florida, and Texas have the metropolitan areas with the most homes taken over by squatters, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/squatting-map-cities-highest-number-homes-1886005#:~:text=There%20is%20little%20research%20about,Rental%20Home%20Council%20(NRHC)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a survey by the National Rental Home Council.
In Atlanta, about 1,200 homes have had squatters. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, squatters have taken over about 475 homes. In the Orlando area, about 125 homes have seen squatters.
<div id="attachment_729361" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-729361" class="size-large wp-image-729361" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489002-864x576.jpg" alt="Police pass by a home occupied by squatters in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. An estimated 1,200 homes are illegally occupied in the Atlanta metro area, an epicenter for institutional investors. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489002-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489002-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489002-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489002.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
In most situations, police have their hands tied and are not able to kick squatters out immediately due to tenant protections. Meanwhile, housing courts usually have a huge backlog, leaving most homeowners with nothing to do but wait as they bleed cash and watch their homes get destroyed.
Recently though, some owners have gotten creative.
In New York City, two immigrants from <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/23/us-news/squatters-get-the-boot-home-owners-sick-of-the-intrusion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pakistan and Trinidad</a> spent $1.3 million on three homes in Coney Island only to have them taken over by 10 squatters while the owners were out of town during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the city&#8217;s buildings department slapped them with $370,000 in fines over their houses&#8217; deteriorating conditions even though the squatters were preventing repairs.
However, the two owners found a shortcut to ousting the illegal occupants when they discovered the squatters had illegally installed temporary walls to make more bedrooms. The NYPD was able to kick them out after this discovery.
A Seattle woman found a similar loophole to remove the squatters who took over her $4,000-a-month apartment.
Moving quickly before Washington state’s “<a href="https://www.wrents.com/squatters-rights-wa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">squatter’s rights</a>” kicked in at 30 days, she found the name of one of the squatters by going through the mail coming to her apartment. She discovered the person had a criminal charge for walking topless in downtown Seattle. This motivated the police to kick the group out, she said, and cops broke down the door and arrested the group for trespassing. One of the squatters was an OnlyFans creator and had installed a stripper pole in the living room.
In Hollywood Hills, a squatter took over a <a href="https://www.kktv.com/2024/02/27/squatters-take-over-hollywood-hills-mansion-use-it-produce-onlyfans-content-realtor-says/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$4 million home</a> and then rented out one of the rooms for $2000 to an unsuspecting woman. Both were ousted when the real estate agent called the police suspecting a robbery — the man fled, and the woman did not appear to know about squatters&#8217; rights.
These nightmare stories have become increasingly common, especially since the economic turbulence sparked by the pandemic. Landlords <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-landlords-face-nightmare-scenario-tenants-who-stay-and-dont-pay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struggled</a> for months after local governments temporarily banned evictions during COVID. When those eviction moratoriums ended, homelessness and squatting incidents <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/the-weekend-jolt/what-is-causing-the-squatting-surge/#:~:text=Many%20factors%2C%20of%20course%2C%20may,at%20play%2C%20involving%20social%20media." target="_blank" rel="noopener">surged</a>.
The squatter problem even has an international component — an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Leonel Moreno was <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/migrant-influencer-leonel-moreno-investigated-for-gun-charges/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> on firearms charges after he mocked American homeowners on TikTok and encouraged migrants to squat in the homes of U.S. citizens.
<div id="attachment_729355" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-729355" class="size-large wp-image-729355" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489260-864x576.jpg" alt="Waste piled up on a property, occupied illegally, on a smartphone of a worker at a cleaning company in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. An estimated 1,200 homes are illegally occupied in the Atlanta metro area, an epicenter for institutional investors. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489260-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489260-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489260-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1953489260.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
As the problem worsens, there is a growing appetite for consequences.
Just this week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp <a href="https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/georgia-governor-to-sign-bill-criminalizing-squatting-insane-that-it-even-happens-brian-kemp-squatters-landowners-homeowners-home-devan-seabaugh-ron-desantis-florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a bill criminalizing squatting. Under the new law, squatters can be arrested and will face a fine based on the property&#8217;s rent price.
Last month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/04/03/squatters-rise-florida-ny-georgia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a similar bill giving homeowners in the state “the ability to quickly and legally remove a squatter from a property,” he said.
New York, which has seen a wave of disturbing squatter stories especially in New York City, recently <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/us-news/ny-pols-take-aim-at-squatters-with-crystal-clear-laws-favoring-homeowners-after-series-of-takeovers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enacted</a> new legislation to crack down on the problem as well. South Carolina has introduced a bill that would allow a property owner to immediately remove a squatter.
The momentum in favor of homeowners may come too late for some who have endured years of expensive legal battles to regain their properties, but the new laws may at least act as a deterrent to would-be future squatters.

Atlanta’s Squatter Problem Is Vexing Wall Street Landlords

Squatters Are Taking Over In These Areas. Here’s What Homeowners Are Doing About It.

Squatters Are Taking Over In These Areas. Here's What Homeowners Are Doing About It.

Crime

Home invasion

Homeless

Homelessness

Generation Z and younger millennials have the misfortune of being ready to buy a home amid a prohibitively expensive housing market.
As the youngest generation of adults looks to buy their first home, they&#8217;re finding it&#8217;s often cheaper to just keep renting than to invest in a mortgage right now.
Some are waiting out the unwelcoming housing market with a seemingly endless cycle of rent payments, but some are biting the bullet and purchasing now.
&#8220;We bought so our money wouldn&#8217;t go to someone else&#8217;s mortgage,&#8221; a Gen Z homeowner and new mother of a baby boy in Virginia told The Daily Wire.
She and her husband wanted to own land, she said. They plan on putting a few extra thousand dollars toward the principal of their mortgage every year, and they also invested in a larger down payment to get a lower fixed interest rate.
&#8220;There are ways to manipulate the system, but again, you usually need some money up front to do so,&#8221; she said.
She added that there is &#8220;a lot of ignorance&#8221; among young home buyers.
&#8220;Every young homeowner I have spoken to looks like a deer in the headlights when I mention how crazy it is that your interest rate can end up costing you at least double the cost of the house across 30 years,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And most people don&#8217;t realize they are paying mostly interest during the early mortgage years and the bulk of the principal later on. Works great for the loaners.&#8221;
Despite the challenges, there have been big upsides to owning a home, she said.
&#8220;Homeownership has made us feel unrestricted in our homemaking and privacy,&#8221; the mom said.
A Gen Z man who is getting married this summer in the Washington, D.C., area said he is planning to wait a year or two before buying a house. His fiancée, a younger millennial already owns a condo, and they plan to hang onto that property as the value goes up, although they hope to move into a second home once they have their first child.
&#8220;A medium to large-sized house is pretty much guaranteed to be a million bucks,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The &#8216;350k or lower&#8217; dream is kind of out the window &#8230; After a quick glance at the market a couple months ago, it looks like the expectation is 700k or more, and that&#8217;s before all that yucky interest.&#8221;
Home prices <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/housing-affordability-crisis-states-00150463#:~:text=Income%20Housing%20Coalition.-,Home%20prices%20are%20up%2047%20percent%20since%20January%202020%2C%20and,and%20fewer%20people%20over%20time." target="_blank" rel="noopener">are up</a> 47% since the beginning of 2020, while rent is up more than 20%. Homelessness has spiked as well, rising 12% in 2022, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/housing-affordability-crisis-states-00150463#:~:text=Income%20Housing%20Coalition.-,Home%20prices%20are%20up%2047%20percent%20since%20January%202020%2C%20and,and%20fewer%20people%20over%20time." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Renting a two-bedroom residence is now actually cheaper than buying that property for about 89% of Americans, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231128140139/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/11/28/is-it-cheaper-to-rent-or-buy-property" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a November analysis by The Economist.
Back in 2020, that was true for only 16% of Americans.
Meanwhile, the housing crash that many potential home buyers <a href="https://www.inman.com/2023/11/28/35-of-americans-hope-the-housing-market-will-crash-in-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hoped</a> for does not look likely to happen. In November, nearly half of Americans, 44% said they thought the housing market could crash in the next year, according to a LendingTree consumer survey. Economists say they do not expect a housing crash either this year or even in 2025.
In fact, house prices are expected to keep rising as much as 4.1% this year, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/housing-market-predictions-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage prices are expected to dip but not by much, and rent prices will likely remain about the same due to a glut of newly built apartment buildings with low demand.
Nevertheless, the tough market has not stopped millennials and even some Gen Z-ers from buying homes, perhaps simply because they are fed up with waiting for the market to turn in their favor.
About 38% of all home buyers were millennials last year, <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/home-buyer-and-seller-generational-trends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a report from the National Association of Realtors, up from 28% in the previous year. Among younger millennials ages 25 to 33, 75% were buying a home for the first time.
The younger Gen Z buyers ages 18 to 24 made up only 3% of home buyers last year, showcasing both the difficulty of breaking into the housing market at a young age as well as the tendency of today&#8217;s young adults to wait before tying themselves down to one property.
Baby Boomers, the wealthiest generation is also contributing to the housing shortage by staying put in their current homes, reluctant to lose the lower mortgage rates they locked in during less expensive years. Previously, older generations would typically move into smaller homes as they aged, freeing up inventory for younger families, but nearly 40% of Boomers have lived in their home for at least 20 years, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/blame-baby-boomers-housing-shortage-redfin-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Redfin.
This shortage is causing any property that does go on the market to sell quickly at very high prices, often above the asking price.
Despite the daunting circumstances, some younger buyers remain optimistic, although they have adjusted their expectations.
The engaged Gen Z-er said he remains hopeful that he and his fiancée will find something they both love.
&#8220;I basically just want a three-bedroom house with a large backyard and some quiet. It exists, but it&#8217;s just a lot more than I thought it was,&#8221; he said. &#8220;My plan is to put a really big down payment on whatever we get.&#8221;

Home for sale with real estate sign

Gen Z, Young Millennials Debate Endless Rent Or Sky-High Mortgages

Generation Z

Millennials

One of the most important ideas in the Bill of Rights is that your private property belongs to you.
It wasn&#8217;t exactly a novel concept, but just in case there was any doubt, the Bill of Rights spelled it out: No one can seize your property without due process. And if you take a look at the major court cases in this area over the years, you&#8217;ll find that you have the strongest privacy interests in your home, which makes sense. There are all kinds of exceptions that police can use to search your car, or your locker at work, for example. But for your home, there aren&#8217;t many exceptions. Your home is your castle, as the saying goes. That&#8217;s been true since the common law was created. 
But it&#8217;s not true anymore. It&#8217;s not even remotely true, in fact. 
It turns out that, when you flood the United States with a limitless supply of illegal migrants, while at the same time shipping millions of jobs overseas, then housing becomes a very scarce commodity. Squatters, mostly out of desperation, pop up in every home they can find — even homes that haven&#8217;t been abandoned. And then, when homeowners try to enforce their rights, and kick these criminals out of the property they paid for, they&#8217;re finding out that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution has effectively been suspended. 
As we discussed briefly yesterday, squatters — home invaders — now have more rights than homeowners. The government will assist them in seizing your property. The police, universally, will take the side of the criminal home invader, and kick the homeowner to the curb. Then, nonprofits and law firms rush in to represent the squatter in legal proceedings, should they become necessary. And then, somehow, courts will often still rule in favor of the squatter. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1329-squatters-can-now-come-in-and-steal-your-home-with-no-consequences-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
We don&#8217;t have to speculate about any of this. It&#8217;s all well-documented at this point. No reasonable person can dispute it. I&#8217;ll start with an example that&#8217;s gotten a lot of attention recently. 
Watch as a 47-year-old woman in Queens, New York, is dragged away from her own home — in handcuffs — because someone claims to have a lease for her property. This guy can&#8217;t show the lease to anyone, including the police and the media. But because he claims he&#8217;s been living there for around a month, they arrest the woman:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 New York" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VjB_yF4CJPE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;Unlawful eviction&#8221; is what they call it when you call the police because there&#8217;s a home invader in your home. That&#8217;s what you get if you&#8217;re not willing to wait two years (or more) for New York&#8217;s completely overloaded housing court to review your case. And by the way, even once New York&#8217;s housing court does review the case, there&#8217;s no guarantee they&#8217;ll side with the homeowner. This is a city that has outlawed the right of self-defense, after all. Once that&#8217;s gone, good luck getting them to enforce any of your other rights.
This is the norm in Left-wing jurisdictions now. It&#8217;s not just that the police don&#8217;t care about squatters with zero documentation whatsoever. It&#8217;s also the fact that the courts don&#8217;t enforce the law, even when you bring flagrant crimes like this to their attention. In Washington state, a judge just <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/squatter-granted-restraining-order-against-landlord-by-washington-state-judge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a> a restraining order against a landlord whose tenant hasn&#8217;t been paying rent for years. The landlord organized a protest to bring attention to the situation, and the judge shut it down. This is a tenant who&#8217;s apparently purchased two cars while refusing to pay rent. And in Washington state, the courts side with him.
But this is not just a problem in New York City and Washington State. It&#8217;s happening all over the United States. 
Consider this recent episode in Atlanta, for example. This is from just four months ago. A woman listed her home for sale — not for rent. Then complete strangers moved in and changed the locks. In response, the police did absolutely nothing. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Atlanta" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QTgLMnkTpaA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
It&#8217;s beyond parody. So the police do eventually show up. But it&#8217;s not to evict the home invaders who are stealing this home. It&#8217;s because they have their own &#8220;parallel investigation&#8221; for some other crimes that one of the squatters — a sex offender — committed in the past. So the cops take one man away in custody. But they allow the other squatter to stay on the property. The cops say the homeowner can ask for her to leave, but &#8220;it might not pan out.&#8221; That&#8217;s what law enforcement means now. You can ask people to stop breaking the law, but it might not pan out.
It needs to be said that these are not close cases. It&#8217;s true that, if it&#8217;s a confusing situation — say, a tenant appears to have legitimate lease documentation — then it&#8217;s probably best that the cops don&#8217;t arrest the tenant. But these are not difficult situations like that. When sex offenders start living in your house, without any valid documentation, the police should remove them. There shouldn&#8217;t be any question about it.
But apparently that isn&#8217;t happening anywhere. A similar scene played out seven months ago in Chicago. This time, a homeowner tries to rent out the property, and squatters show up. But once again, the police don&#8217;t do anything:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Chicago" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TmQjTkOXTQM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I could spend all day, going from city to city, showing you footage like this. There&#8217;s footage from rural jurisdictions as well that I could show you. It&#8217;s happening all over. These kinds of home invasions are so common that one handyman has opened up a business advising homeowners how to regain access to their own homes, when squatters show up. Basically the idea is that you need to generate your own lease, so that you can show it to the police officers, who are now trained to respect your squatter&#8217;s rights over your rights in your own home. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Handyman" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/alhkZ1MZqkw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It&#8217;s hard to think of a more humiliating exercise than this. You own a property, and to access it, and to get the police to enforce the law, you need to draw up some fake lease for them. And this idea actually works, by the way. We know that because several years ago, the journalist Charlie LeDuff tried it in Michigan. He out-squatted the squatters. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 9 years ago" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/85AgkLcc094?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;Are you stealing power?&#8221; Charlie asks. &#8220;I&#8217;m blessed,&#8221; responds the squatter. At least the woman has a sense of humor.
What&#8217;s funny is that, in this situation, unlike all the other ones, the police actually do take the original squatter to jail. This is the only time they&#8217;ll take action to protect your property. You have to hire a new squatter to kick out the old one. I guess the idea is that the most recent squatter gets dibbs. 
This is a mockery of the idea of private property rights, obviously, and there&#8217;s a reason it&#8217;s happening. It&#8217;s the same reason you see so much mockery of religion. It&#8217;s the same reason BLM goes after the family unit. It&#8217;s why the corporate media pushes transgenderism. Private property rights — like religion and the family unit — is a bulwark against total state control of our lives. As long as we have private property, the state can&#8217;t control us — at least not as easily. 
Without private property, we&#8217;re just renters. And renters can be evicted at will. You&#8217;ll own nothing and be happy.
The Biden administration has done everything it can to normalize the destruction of private property rights. The administration fought to extend the COVID-era eviction moratorium as long as they could — long past the time that there was any plausible argument that ending evictions would somehow &#8220;stop the spread.&#8221; That led, effectively, to the nationalization of private property in this country. Landlords lost the right to evict squatters paying no rent, even when they owned the property outright. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Burbank CA" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/md9FRcSgHBg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The anchor says it&#8217;s a &#8220;loophole.&#8221; But it&#8217;s the opposite of a loophole, the policy was working as intended. The eviction moratorium had nothing to do with a virus. It was intended to do something that&#8217;s never happened in this country since the Civil War, which is the wide-scale suspension of private property rights.
Once you pull off something as unconstitutional as seizing people&#8217;s homes in a time of &#8220;emergency&#8221; (as the Biden administration defined it), then it becomes much easier to seize people&#8217;s homes at any point in the future. And that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re seeing now.
That means more homes for the millions of illegal aliens who are entering this country.
It means more humiliation and destruction for American citizens.
And it means we&#8217;re getting closer to some homeowner somewhere snapping and deciding to take back his property, by force. At this point, you have to imagine that&#8217;s exactly what the people running this country want to happen.

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