People who are crossing the border illegally are never going to come close to qualifying for a mortgage, at least in next 5-10 years.
But a different kind of immigration does affect the crisis, and it is on the other end. You can fast track permanent residency by investing money, around $1m, into a US business. So every corrupt technocrats, police and army higher ups, politicians, gang leaders, unscrupulous business people I know of from my native developing country own multiple houses for themselves, their spouses and kids in US and Canada. This is what is making homeownership more and more unaffordable for average Americans.
The link is about the number of people Border Patrol caught, and thus won't be using US housing (or will be doing so legally as refugees). It's safe to assume there are others who don't get caught, but it provides no information about whether this is increasing, decreasing or forms a significant portion of the population growth.
From 2007 to 2019 the estimated number of unauthorized immigrants was slightly declining[1], at the same time that the population of the US as a whole (and the housing shortage) was growing, so it certainly wasn't a significant part of the problem then. From 1990 to 2007, the unauthorized migrant population grew about 500k/year relative to about 3M/year total. Even unauthorized migrants accounted for 17% of the population like they did then, which is debatable, that still wouldn't account for all of the discrepancy between housing growth and population growth. So it is fair to ask for numbers that actually support the parents position.
Furthermore, the housing supply is supposed to be responding to demand. Its failure to do so is a problem regardless of where that demand is coming from. It has been clear that we have had a growing housing shortage for decades, but it took a generation of population turnover and insanely unsustainable prices before political pressure grew to the point to change regulations and allow the housing market to be able to even begin to respond. Without the migrant population growth there is a very good chance we would have still allowed the problem to get just as bad before we finally responded, it just would have taken a bit longer.
This talks about "encounters" at the border which really means how many people are caught at the border and are waiting for a hearing. To make the claim you want to make, you would need to know how many of those people actually get hearings and are admitted into the country.
People who are crossing the border illegally are never going to come close to qualifying for a mortgage, at least in next 5-10 years.
But a different kind of immigration does affect the crisis, and it is on the other end. You can fast track permanent residency by investing money, around $1m, into a US business. So every corrupt technocrats, police and army higher ups, politicians, gang leaders, unscrupulous business people I know of from my native developing country own multiple houses for themselves, their spouses and kids in US and Canada. This is what is making homeownership more and more unaffordable for average Americans.