Some blue states are looking over plans to request that American taxpayers pay for housing for newly arrived Afghans brought into the U.S. by President Biden’s White House as they struggle to pay for housing costs themselves.
The Biden team is hoping to bring 95,000 Afghans to the United States over the past 12 months. Already, around 37,000 Afghans are in the United State and will soon require housing in around 46 states.
In certain regions and cities, Afghans are running into high housing costs — partially increased by the nation’s overwhelming immigration that allow in millions of new people into the United States every decade, all of whom require housing and thus raise demand.
“Population growth leads to greater housing costs … Apart from San Diego, they all have higher growth rates than the country as a whole,” NumbersUSA’s Andrew Good said. “San Diego is what happens when a city won’t build enough new housing to sustain the greater population growth. But thanks to the pressure from this growth, housing prices still rise.”
That impact is now getting to the Afghans, most of whom were only in the U.S. for a few weeks and are still getting processed.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) wants taxpayers to pay their bill, requesting almost $17 million to give “cash assistance” to Afghans who will be resettled. Some of this funding would go toward giving housing for the Afghans.
A similar approach is being used in blue-state Massachusetts where Democrats are demanding that taxpayers give $12 million to pay for Afghans housing, among other costs.
Mass immigration groups have similarly asked Democrats in New York to give more taxpayer funds to Afghans. Some of this money, the groups have stated, should go to housing.
In the DC, and northern Virginia, where many Afghans were resettled, refugee contractors are trying to buy up enough affordable housing to move the Afghans.
“There aren’t enough houses in the area that those families can afford with the limited assistance most are eligible to get: $2,275 per person for housing and other services, a fund that is meant to last at least 90 days,” the Washington Post reports.
Author: Blake Ambrose