Logansport, Indiana, seems like the perfect place to test Donald Trump’s claim that an influx of migrants is a major reason housing prices and rents are soaring in America. The heartland town with a population of 18,200 has seen an influx of between 2,000 and 5,000 Haitian immigrants during the last few years, all of whom need a place to lay their heads. While home prices in Logansport have increased 41 percent since 2019—compared with 35 percent nationally—it’s difficult to find an elected official or real estate professional who faults the newcomers for the surge.
Mayor Chris Martin said flat-out that immigration isn’t to blame. Toni Gebhardt, broker-owner of Pacesetters Real Estate, agreed. Gebhardt said that even though fitting into the community hasn’t always gone smoothly for the Haitians, many of whom work at the local Tyson Foods plant, the immigrants aren’t responsible for real estate getting more expensive. “Prices have gradually been going up because of the lack of housing in our area, but that started even before the Haitians got here,” she said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with them.”
Part of the reason, they say, is that the demand for housing Haitian immigrants is mitigated by their living arrangements: Many who have recently settled in Logansport have responded to the problem by doubling and tripling up, with as many as two dozen people sharing a rental, a pattern that’s playing out in communities around the country. Logansport underscores some of the complex factors that challenge Trump’s assertion, which J.D. Vance expressed this way during his October 1 debate with Tim Walz: “You have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.”