AOC: Migrants Are a ‘Blessing’ Amid Rising Rents in NY City

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) tweeted over the weekend that an influx of economic migrants into her New York district is a “blessing,” though rents are so high that her constituents must earn roughly $50 per hour to pay for a two-bedroom apartment.

The massive wave of new customers has helped spike the value of real estate, apartment rents, and the cost of new houses, especially in areas where well-to-do Americans flee from the arrival of diverse populations.

For example, a 2017 report by the CATO Institute says the cost of illegal immigration could be reduced by cutting spending on border enforcement: “If the typical illegal immigrant increases the value of all housing unit prices by 11.5 cents, then illegal immigrants increase nationwide housing values by about $1 trillion.”

The district of Jackson Heights is a lower-income section of AOC’s 14th district of New York state. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that those constituents need to earn $45.77 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in neighborhood. But the average household income in her district is only $63,000. At those prices and wages, AOC’s households can only afford to rent one bedroom per family.

Even government-controlled rental apartments are getting more expensive for her constituents. Biden’s illegal migrants are driving up those prices, partly because they are more willing to share apartments and beds as they work long hours to pay off their smuggling debts and to support their distant families.