Arizona's Ruben Gallego turns to the EB-5 program to pitch a housing fix
Arizona senator Ruben Gallego has turned to an obscure corner of US immigration policy in his latest attempt to chip away at the nation’s housing affordability crisis, proposing to steer more foreign investment into building and rehabbing homes.
The Democrat introduced the “Building Housing for the American Dream Act,” which would overhaul how the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program treats housing projects, according to a draft bill.
How Gallego wants EB-5 money to work
The EB-5 program lets foreign investors pursue permanent US residence by putting at least $1.05 million into a commercial enterprise that creates 10 full-time jobs. That threshold drops to $800,000 for projects in rural areas or regions with high unemployment.
Gallego's bill would extend that discount to housing developments—whether rental units or homes sold as primary residences—and fast-track visa processing for affordable housing investments.
“By steering more EB-5 investment towards housing, we can boost the housing supply, bring down costs, and create good jobs for American workers,” Gallego said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.
Advocates for immigrant investors framed the measure as a way to make affordable housing competitive with other EB-5 options.
“We thank Sen. Gallego for his commitment to working on creative solutions to solve the nation’s housing affordability problem,” said Ishaan Khanna of the American Immigrant Investor Alliance, which helped draft the legislation.
“Senator Gallego recognizes that affordable housing is essential for the 21st century but the problem has always been these types of projects despite their need do not qualify for the lower investment amount and are thus unable to attract foreign investors,” Khanna said.
EB-5, foreign capital and the housing crunch
The EB-5 program, created in 1990, was designed to stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.
Participants and their immediate families could apply for green cards if they invested the required capital and met the job-creation threshold. Federal law capped EB-5 at a small share of total employment-based green cards each year, limiting how far any housing-focused tweak could reach.
The proposal landed against a backdrop of deep supply shortages and stubbornly high borrowing costs.
President Donald Trump previously called on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spur a wave of new home construction.
In a Truth Social post, Trump accused large homebuilders of “sitting on 2 million empty lots, a record,” and likened their behavior to OPEC’s control of oil prices.
New figures from the Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) showed housing starts fell sharply in August, dropping to an annual rate of 1.31 million—down 8.5% from July and 6% from last year.
National data showed home sales in 2023 fell to their lowest level since the mid‑1990s as elevated rates and thin inventory squeezed buyers.
Mortgage industry leaders describe affordability as the defining pressure on borrowers, citing prices and carrying costs that outpace incomes across many markets. They also point to rising investor activity and foreign capital flows as forces reshaping inventory and competition in multiple US cities.
Politics, limits and open questions
Gallego’s measure faces uncertain prospects in a divided Congress and would not, on its own, close the country’s vast housing gap.
However, it shows a broader shift in Washington, where lawmakers increasingly treat immigration tools, foreign capital and targeted credit programs as part of the affordability toolkit, rather than relying solely on zoning reform or rate relief.
Federal policy debates are moving toward finding new, sometimes unconventional, channels of long-term capital for housing – and lenders, builders and brokers who understood those channels early stand to shape where that money ultimately flows.
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