Utah’s construction industry heavily relies on immigrant labor, with at least 20% of its workforce made up of immigrants. Estimates suggest that between 75,000 and 114,000 unauthorized immigrants reside in the state, while Utah faces a housing shortage of approximately 40,000 units.
Utah’s housing affordability czar, Steve Waldrip, warns that cracking down on undocumented immigrants could worsen labor shortages in the construction industry, ultimately driving up home prices without significantly reducing housing demand.
“It’s not going to have a measurable impact on the price of housing to deport immigrants,” Waldrip said. “But it will have a negative impact on the production side.”
Waldrip, who advises the governor on housing strategy, estimates that around 10% of Utah’s construction workers may be unauthorized immigrants.
A report from the American Immigration Council found that 20.5% of Utah’s construction workforce consists of immigrants, making it the industry with the highest share of immigrant workers in the state. With roughly 143,000 construction workers in Utah, this means nearly 29,300 are immigrants, though the report does not differentiate between legal and unauthorized status.
Meanwhile, the Utah Department of Public Safety estimates that around 75,000 unauthorized immigrants live in the state, while other reports suggest the number could be as high as 114,200. Since 2022, at least 30,000 immigration proceedings have been filed in Utah courts, reflecting a significant influx of asylum-seeking migrants.
Utah’s housing shortage continues to worsen, with population growth outpacing new construction. Waldrip stated that Utah needs to build 7,000 starter homes annually to close the gap, but labor shortages, regulatory challenges, and market forces are slowing progress.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback from the construction industry that they are really struggling to find skilled labor, and particularly carpenters, electricians, plumbers. Those kinds of trades are really, really thin in the state right now,” Waldrip said.
If deportations reduce the number of available construction workers, homebuilders may need to offer higher wages to attract employees, increasing costs for new homes.
“No question that this will impact the bottom lines of builders, and they don’t generally absorb those losses, they pass those on to the ultimate buyers,” Waldrip said.
Some argue that removing unauthorized immigrants will reduce housing demand and lower prices. However, Waldrip suggests the impact would be minimal.
“The ability of us to deport 10, 20 million people, it’s just not a practical thing,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said.
Many unauthorized immigrants live in multigenerational households or with family members who are legally present, reducing the likelihood that deportations would free up significant housing stock.
Utah lawmakers have introduced measures to support federal deportation efforts, including:
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz emphasized that the state’s priority is to remove criminals, rather than all undocumented individuals.
“Deportations are an important part of the process; people are here illegally,” Schultz said. “But we do have a balance I think we need to find. And right now, we are committed and working on getting the criminals out of our state. That has to be our first priority.”
Waldrip believes a reformed immigration policy that allows legal pathways for skilled labor is crucial for Utah’s construction industry.
“Right now, our immigration policy is so fractured that people are taking whoever they can get, regardless of how they got here,” he said.
As Utah grapples with labor shortages and rising housing costs, policymakers face the challenge of balancing enforcement with the economic realities of the state’s workforce and housing needs.
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