Lower Immigration, Lower Rent
Americans have spent years watching the cost of housing climb faster than their paychecks. The one third of your income rule was thrown out long ago, as rent consumes larger portions of family budgets and homeownership drifts further out of reach. While too many lawmakers focused on symptoms, President Trump has addressed one of the root causes of the affordability crisis: unchecked migration.
Over the past few years, the crisis has become impossible to ignore.
Since Trump took office, national average rent prices have fallen by 4.4% from their Biden-era peak. Earlier this year, rent reached a four-year low, marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline and the largest annual drop in over two years.
More than 46 million Americans lease their homes. With this drastic change, this translates into real savings that can be redirected toward groceries, childcare, education, retirement, or even a down payment on a future home.
While the cost of living substantially dropped, so did another noticeable statistic: immigration. In 2025 alone, net international migration collapsed by 54.7%, the sharpest decline in census history. These two developments are connected: when millions enter the country in just four years, the demand for housing explodes. When the housing supply can’t keep up, prices increase. It’s simple supply and demand, as witnessed by millions of Americans during Biden’s presidency.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently proved just how significant that impact was. Between 2021 and 2024, foreign-born residents accounted for roughly two-thirds of rental demand growth nationwide. In states like California and New York, the agency concluded that the border crisis accounted for all rental price growth and more than half of owner-occupied housing growth during that period.
This isn’t surprising for anyone with a basic understanding of economics. When a country allows millions of people to move to an already strained housing market, it becomes impossible to find an affordable apartment, let alone a first home.
President Trump's immigration crackdown has helped reverse that trend. With fewer new arrivals competing for limited housing inventory, vacancy rates have increased across all major cities. Less competition means downward pressure on rent.
The Lafayette Partnership was founded on principles of constitutional governance, individual liberty, and American exceptionalism. Those values require a government that places the interests of its own citizens first. Housing affordability isn’t just a financial issue. It is a quality-of-life issue. If families don’t have a safe place to grow, it becomes impossible to achieve the American Dream.
Washington bureaucrats pursued policies that promoted global interests over hardworking, generational Americans. Schools became overcrowded. Services like hospitals and public transportation faced growing strain. Housing costs surged. Ordinary Americans were told these outcomes were unavoidable, that the lives of strangers mattered more than their own.
President Trump’s first 18 months in office prove public policy matters. Borders do not secure themselves. When the government enforces immigration laws and manages population growth responsibly, communities regain the breathing room needed to prosper.
America does not need an open-border housing policy. It needs an America First housing policy.
The recent decline in rents is encouraging evidence that these policies are working. Families across the country are finally seeing relief after years of relentless price increases. Communities are experiencing less pressure on public resources. Housing markets are becoming more balanced.
Americans are once again being placed at the center of policy.