By Zamone Perez
Immigrants play an outsize role in homebuilding and remodeling across the Commonwealth, a role which will be affected by the Trump administration’s push to reach “net zero” migration into the United States, according to a new report.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University finds in metro areas with the most home construction and remodeling, immigrants are the main drivers of labor for the projects. In northern Virginia, two-thirds of construction trades workers are immigrants. The percentage is substantial but not quite as high in areas like Norfolk and Richmond.
Riordan Frost, senior research analyst at the center, said the most productive metro areas in building houses, condos and apartments often rely the most heavily on immigrant labor.
The report found drywallers and plasterers lead the trades with the highest percentage of immigrant workers, at more than three-fifths. Half of all roofers, painters and floor installers are also immigrants. Frost argued efforts to so steeply curb immigration into the US could put a strain on housing affordability, already a major issue across the Commonwealth and the nation.
