January 13, 2012
AND WE'LL IMPORT THE NEXT WAVE OF BUILDERS TO HOUSE THEM:
The Next Immigration Challenge (DOWELL MYERS, 1/12/12, NY Times)
But it is immigrants' success in becoming homeowners -- often overlooked in immigration debates -- that is the truest mark of their desire to adopt America as home. Consider Latinos. Among those in the wave of 1990s immigrants, just 20 percent owned a home in 2000. We expect that percentage to rise to 69 percent -- and 74 percent for all immigrants -- by 2030, well above the historical average for all Americans.Who will be selling these homes to these immigrants? The 78 million native-born baby boomers looking to downsize as their children grow up and leave home. Fortunately for them, both immigrants and their children will be there to buy their homes, putting money into baby-boomer pockets and helping to shore up future housing prices.Indeed, with millions of people retiring every week, America's immigrants and their children are crucial to future economic growth: economists forecast labor-force growth to drop below 1 percent later this decade because of retiring baby boomers.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 13, 2012 6:45 AM
Tweet