Politics & Government
Problems and Solutions: Illegal Immigration and Housing Construction
MHProNews Agree a Lot with the Daily Signal But Not This Time-Virginia Allen on right missed same things Alice Carter on left did months ago
Be it from the left or right, when a report or op-ed fails to consider relevant facts, the conclusion or 'solutions' that emerge are arguably flawed. A miss can be intentional or accidental. While an intentional miss by a reporter or analyst is arguably more serious, both can have the same effect. Those principles will be unpacked in Part II. But first up is the headline article in Part I is from the Daily Signal and was provided to this writer for MHProNews as the latest installment in this "Reality Check" series for this Patch.
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News
Problems and Solutions: Illegal Immigration and the Construction Industry
Virginia Allen | March 31, 2025
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There might be less incentive for migrants to enter the country illegally if clearer U.S. visa work programs were in place, says Ben Brubeck, vice president of regulatory, labor, and state affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors.
Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction industry trade association, “is clear that there’s no place in our country for lawbreakers of any kind, and we oppose any efforts to facilitate that,” he said. But there needs to be a clear process that “does allow for foreign workers here legally … to participate in the construction industry,” he said.
“And, you know, if there were an easier system, I don’t know that we’d have as many people here illegally, so I think we’ve got to sort of address that,” Brubeck told The Daily Signal.
Under the U.S. H-2B program, 66,000 aliens are allowed to enter the country each fiscal year “to fill temporary nonagricultural” jobs, and can stay in the country for a maximum of three years, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But those 66,000 workers only make a small dent in the current construction worker shortage.
Instead of capping the H-2B program at a set number, it should be based on economic need within the industry, Brubeck said.
Currently, the biggest issue within the construction industry is a shortage of skilled labor, according to Brubeck, who has worked for the trade association for 21 years.
Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents the needs of more than 23,000 companies, estimates there is a shortage of 439,000 people in the construction industry, which employs about 8 million in the U.S.
“It’s harder to get new people in the industry, especially the young folks,” Brubeck said, adding that his association is working to “recruit from all different entry points in the industry.”
The strategy to meet the needs in the construction worker shortage includes getting “more legal immigrants into the industry and also [making] sure that the illegal immigrant population is not working and undercutting the wages of legal immigrants as well as [those of] the American workforce,” he said.
In addition to removing the permanent cap on the H-2B program, Brubeck said Associated Builders and Contractors has been pushing for a merit-based, market-driven visa system that would “make sure the people who are coming in for these jobs are fully vetted and have a skill and have the ability and opportunity to work and are serious about it.”
The construction worker shortage can also be addressed through a bill Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., introduced in 2023 called the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act. The bill, if passed, would create a new visa program that would allow up to 85,000 annual positions for temporary workers to address worker shortages in the construction industry. Associated Builders and Contractors supports the bill.
Brubeck says association members also want to see “administrative backlogs” addressed “for work authorization documents from immigrants who are legally residing in the United States.”
In recent years, the construction industry has suffered under something of a “perfect storm,” Brubeck explained.
“We’ve had material costs increased 40% since the start of the [COVID-19] pandemic until the start the Trump administration, so, you know, everything’s more expensive. We’ve got higher interest rates, so lending and financing is more expensive,” Brubeck said. “We’ve got permitting delays, and issues getting big projects built because of permitting inefficiencies, and we’ve got the skilled labor shortage.”
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration could lead to increased wages for workers in the construction industry, and that cost is often passed onto the customer or taxpayer, he said, but it’s “good news for existing workers.”
Brubeck said he’s looking forward to “working with the administration and then our partners and states to address” the challenges facing the construction industry.
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Part II - Additional Information with More Topics
1) Longtime and detail-minded readers of this "Reality Check" series for this Patch may recall that this writer for MHProNews already dealt with this issue months ago.
> Alice Carter-The Northern Forum-Deporting Immigrants & Housing Crisis
2) Be the error from the left or the right, the facts remain the same. The solution to the affordable housing crisis and what happens as illegal immigrants are deported or voluntarily return to their countries is the same. See the reports above to learn again why the affordable housing crisis can't be solved by illegal immigrants, nor legal ones. But let's keep this super-simple.
3) If illegal immigrants are part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis, then when some 12 plus million people crossed illegally during the 4 years that Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris (D) and Democrats ran the country, why did housing become even less affordable?
4)
https://patch.com/florida/lake...
5) Vice President J.D. Vance (R) was arguably correct in saying that illegal immigrants are one of the factors that made U.S. housing costs less affordable. There are other factors, see the two reports linked above for details.
https://www.manufacturedhomepr...
https://patch.com/florida/lake...
6) HUD Secretary E. Scott Turner (R) said during the confirmation process that HUD had failed at its core mission. That's a case of the value of stating the obvious. For 50 years, Democrats and Republicans alike have talked about the affordable housing crisis without implementing the steps necessary to truly tame the affordable housing crisis.
7) Mark Weiss, J.D., President and CEO of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) and his colleagues met with HUD Sec. Turner with HUD staffers Turner apparently deemed important for the discussion. It is no surprise that Weiss and his colleagues pushed the importance for HUD to routinely and robustly enforce the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (a.k.a.: MHIA, MHIA 2000, 2000 Reform Law, 2000 Reform Act) and its "enhanced preemption"provision which allows HUD to override local zoning barriers that unlawfully foil the placement of HUD Code manufactured home.
https://www.manufacturedhomepr...
https://patch.com/florida/lake...
8) Both Democrats and Republicans alike passed the 2000 Reform Law that then Senator Joe Biden (DE-D) was part of enacting as a co-sponsor.
9) Governor Gavin Newsom (CA-D) has been apparently preparing for a run for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president. Newsome said that "localism" is a barrier to more affordable housing.
https://www.manufacturedhomepr...
10) Newsom doesn't need HUD's direct involvement to invoke federal law. Newsom could do so at any time, just as the Biden-Harris team could have invoked the 2000 Reform Law that Biden helped enact. It should be obvious that only millions of more affordable homes will solve the AFFORDABLE housing crisis. Building mansions won't solve the problem. Years of third-party research proves that the concerns that many have about manufactured homes are simply outdated myths.
11) To the oversights in the articles by Alice Carter and Virgina Allen. Factory-building is another proven way how the 'labor shortage' is addressed.
We don't build cars in driveways. But if someone wants a car built in a driveway, depending on the regulations in their neighborhood, they may be allowed to do so. But we learned generations ago that building cars in factories were the smart way to build cars. Factories are the smart way to make clothing. Factory-production is how we make appliances and electronics. The jobs created in production centers are routinely better paying jobs. And because it is in a factory, training for the job is easier than on a jobs site with subcontractors.
12) This is tragically simple. We will either have more homelessness because housing becomes unaffordable, or we will need more affordable housing which is routinely manufactured homes.
https://patch.com/florida/lake...
13) Gov. Newsom. Secretary Turner. If you or others want to help solve the affordable housing crisis, invoke federal law in the form of the "enhanced preemption" provision of the 2000 Reform Law. If a teenager can figure it out, older adults can too.
See the report linked here for the full letter. https://www.manufacturedhomeli...
14) MHARR CEO Mark Weiss put it like this.
https://manufacturedhousingass...
15) There is no mathematical solution to the affordable housing crisis without millions of more HUD Code manufactured homes. Anyone who says differently is either ignorant or has an agenda.
https://www.manufacturedhomeli...
16) Don't let long debunked myths keep Americans from enjoying the benefits of affordable home ownership and more intergenerational wealth.
Other topics follow. Thank you for checking into this latest "Reality Check" article for this Patch.
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L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of Manufactured Home Living News.com (MHLivingNews.com) and Manufactured Home Pro News.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###z
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