Housing is like weight training. Everyone understands the basic rule — the weights don’t get lighter just because you want them to. You train, you build strength, and over time, you lift more.

Now imagine someone new walks into the gym, someone who’s been training hard elsewhere, and they walk straight up to the 200-pound barbell and lift it. Blaming them doesn’t make the bar any lighter for you. But that’s exactly what it sounds like when we say, ‘Immigrants are causing housing to be unaffordable.’ It’s like asking: ‘Why are these people allowed to walk into the gym and lift the weights which I can’t?’ The truth is, the weights didn’t get heavier because someone else got stronger. And housing didn’t get expensive because others showed up — it became a challenge because our muscles did not develop as fast, maybe our training routine is not right.