HUD Secretary Scott Turner Credits Immigration Crackdown for Housing Relief, but Prices Remain High

What Turner Said

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital from the Great American State Fair on Thursday, July 9. His core argument: the Biden administration's border policies inflated housing demand, which pushed up prices and rents for American citizens.

"When we first came in with President Trump, we had open borders. We had tens of millions of illegals in our country," Turner said. He framed reducing illegal immigration as inseparable from reducing housing costs.

"American houses are for American people," Turner added.

Beyond enforcement, Turner pointed to two executive orders Trump has signed aimed at removing regulatory barriers to new construction, expanding mortgage credit access, and increasing overall housing supply.

The Data Behind the Claim

Turner's argument rests on empirical ground. A working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimated that every 1% increase in unauthorized immigrant workers correlated with roughly a 2.2% increase in home prices and a 1.4% increase in rents. The paper establishes correlation rather than proving that immigration was the primary driver of the housing affordability crisis.

Housing economists have identified multiple overlapping causes for elevated prices: a decade-long construction shortfall, pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve that squeezed inventory by locking existing homeowners into low-rate mortgages, and zoning restrictions in high-demand metros. None of those structural factors disappear with tighter border enforcement.

The Strongest Counterargument

The fair version of the opposing concern goes like this: unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in specific labor markets, and many work in construction. Removing a significant portion of that workforce could reduce housing demand in some markets while simultaneously raising construction costs and slowing the pace of homebuilding. If labor shortages drive up construction wages, new homes get more expensive to build, which cuts against the supply-side goal Turner also cited. The administration has not publicly addressed how it plans to reconcile faster deportations with an already undersupplied construction labor market.

What's Been Done vs. What's Been Delivered

Turner pushed back against the perception that housing affordability is not a priority. "I think there is a misperception that this is not a priority. It is of the utmost priority," he said.

The two executive orders he referenced address regulatory barriers and mortgage credit access. The administration has not yet released specific implementation timelines or projected supply additions tied to those orders.

As of July 9, 2026, housing costs remain elevated across most of the country. Turner did not provide a target date for when measurable price relief would materialize, and no independent housing index reviewed here shows a significant national decline attributable to current administration policy.

What to Watch

Turner described affordability as a key midterm concern for Republicans, which frames this as both policy and politics. Whether the administration can produce tangible results before the 2026 midterm cycle closes will determine whether the immigration-housing argument holds up as a winning message or becomes a liability.

The central unresolved question is straightforward: if enforcement reduces demand but also reduces the construction workforce, does net housing supply go up or down? HUD, the Dallas Fed, and other sources have not answered this publicly.