Mass Immigration and Homelessness: Storm Clouds of Social Unrest, By James Reed and Chris Knight (Florida)

A strong society is the foundation of security, when resources strain and trust erodes, the path to chaos opens. A study highlighted by The Daily Sceptic (July 3, 2025) argues that mass immigration, particularly the influx of asylum seekers under the Biden-Harris administration in the US, has driven a 60% share of the nearly 200,000 spike in U.S. homelessness since 2022. This claim, rooted in data from cities like New York and Chicago, resonates with our concerns about "woke social policies" and societal fractures leading to potential unrest. The lesson is clear: unchecked policies can destabilise the systems we rely on. Here's a defense of the argument that mass immigration exacerbates homelessness. The Same argument applies to Australia.

The Argument: Asylum Seekers Strain Resources

The Daily Sceptic article, citing a study by Bruce Meyer and colleagues, makes a compelling case:

Homelessness Surge: Since 2022, U.S. homelessness has risen by nearly 200,000, primarily in the sheltered population, concentrated in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Denver.

Asylum Seeker Impact: Using direct (government reports, local data) and indirect (Hispanic population share) methods, the study estimates asylum seekers account for ~60% of this increase. This may be conservative, as it excludes non-Hispanic asylum seekers outside certain cities.

Resource Strain: Cities with generous shelter policies, like New York's "right to shelter" law, attract migrants, overwhelming housing systems. Building new housing takes years, leaving shelters and streets overcrowded.

Policy Context: The Biden-Harris administration's permissive border policies led to millions of asylum seekers from countries like Mexico, Venezuela, and Guatemala. Texas's voluntary busing program funnelled some to these cities, but their shelter generosity was the primary draw.

This aligns with broader societal concerns discussed at the blog today, such as Professor David Betz's warning of civil war risks due to fractured societies. Overstretched resources and public discontent fuel distrust, a precursor to instability.

The argument is backed by data and trends:

Data-Driven Analysis: Meyer's study uses government reports and local official data, corroborated by an indirect method, showing consistent results. The 60% figure is robust, with potential underestimation due to uncounted migrants.

City-Specific Trends: New York City's Mayor Eric Adams reported a $4.2 billion budget shortfall in 2023, blaming 56,000 illegal immigrants. Chicago and Boston face similar strains, with shelters at capacity.

Public Sentiment: A 2024 poll cited in the article shows 55% of Americans want immigration decreased, up from 28% in 2020, reflecting frustration with border policies. This mirrors our concerns about woke policies ignoring public needs.

Global Parallels: Ireland's 2023 homelessness rise was linked to a 3.5% population increase from immigration, with Taoiseach Simon Harris acknowledging the strain. This suggests a universal resource challenge.

These points support the article's claim that mass immigration, particularly of asylum seekers, directly exacerbates homelessness by overwhelming urban infrastructure.

Critics might challenge the argument, but it holds up under scrutiny:

Other Causes of Homelessness: Economic factors (e.g., inflation, housing costs) also drive homelessness. However, the study isolates asylum seekers' impact by focusing on cities with high migrant inflows, showing a clear correlation.

Migrant Busing Bias: Texas's busing program could skew data by concentrating migrants in certain cities. The article counters that busing was voluntary, and cities' shelter policies were the primary draw, not busing alone.

Discriminatory Framing: Some argue linking immigration to homelessness fuels xenophobia. Yet, the study focuses on resource allocation, not migrant blame, highlighting systemic policy failures.

Economic Benefits: Pro-immigration advocates claim migrants boost economies. A 2024 IFS report counters that low-wage migrants often create fiscal deficits, straining public services like housing.

These rebuttals reinforce the argument: while multiple factors contribute, asylum seekers' rapid influx measurably overwhelms shelter systems.

The Daily Sceptic's argument that mass immigration, particularly asylum seekers, caused 60% of the U.S. homelessness spike since 2022 is well-supported by Meyer's data, city-specific trends, and public sentiment. While economic factors and busing programs play roles, the overwhelming demand on shelter systems in cities with generous policies is undeniable.

It is all but another social harm of mass immigration.

https://dailysceptic.org/2025/07/03/does-mass-immigration-cause-homelessness/

"In a major poll taken after the 2024 election, respondents were presented with various reasons to vote against Kamala Harris and asked to say which were most compelling. The second most compelling reason, as judged by respondents, was that "too many immigrants illegally crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration".

This result is consistent with the dramatic shift in attitudes to immigration that has taken place since 2020. In that year, only 28% of Americans said they wanted immigration decreased and 34% said they wanted it increased. By 2024, 55% said they wanted immigration decreased and only 16% said they wanted it increased.

Why did concerns about immigration play such a pivotal role in the 2024 election? The reason is simple: there was a huge rise in illegal immigration — as even immigration-friendly outlets like the New York Times acknowledge.

The vast majority of illegal migrants who entered the US under Biden were asylum seekers from countries like Mexico, Venezuela and Guatemala. And given that there were several million of them, they were kind of hard to miss.

Whenever a large number of asylum seekers arrive in a country (even one as big as the US) there are going to be problems. One such problem is homelessness, as Bruce Meyer and colleagues document in a new paper.

The authors begin by noting that the number of homeless people in the US has spiked since 2022 — to the tune of almost 200,000. Most of the rise is accounted for by an increase in the sheltered homeless population. (The unsheltered population has also risen, though less dramatically.) What's more, the rise is heavily concentrated in just four cities: New York, Chicago, Boston and Denver.

Trends in homelessness in the US.

To estimate how much of the rise is due to the influx of asylum seekers, Meyer and colleagues obtained data from government reports and local officials in the four cities mentioned above. (They also used an indirect method, based on the assumption that the Hispanic share of the sheltered homeless population would have remained constant in the absence of the influx.)

The direct and indirect methods yielded similar estimates. Overall, asylum seekers account for about 60% of the spike in homelessness. And this may be a lower bound, since the direct method ignores asylum seekers outside the aforementioned cities, while the indirect method ignores non-Hispanic asylum seekers outside Chicago and Boston.

Results from the authors' analysis.

Incidentally, the migrant busing programme initiated by Texas Governor Greg Abbott can explain part of the concentration of homelessness in the aforementioned cities. However, since the programme was voluntary, it is likely that most of the migrants who took part would have made their way to those cities independently.

A more plausible explanation for the concentration of homelessness is the availability and generosity of shelter services. New York, for example, has a 'right to shelter' law that requires the city to provide shelter for every homeless person who wants it.

Since housing typically takes months or years to build, it's hardly surprising that a massive influx of asylum seekers would exacerbate homelessness. What did the Biden administration think was going to happen?