More evidence is emerging that the influx of illegal immigrants into Democrat-run cities has led to more Americans being pushed onto the streets due to overcrowded homeless shelters.

Homeless shelters in major cities across America have been bursting at the seams in recent years. Groups tasked with alleviating homelessness and academics often point to the cost of housing and economic conditions as the reasons for rising homeless rates and tent encampments popping up in cities. 

A report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research this week, however, suggests that the trend of migrants overcrowding shelters has been an issue for several years. The NBER’s report notes that data from the federal government shows the number of people in homeless shelters increased 43 percent between 2022 and 2024.

“Three-quarters of this rise was concentrated in four localities — New York City, Chicago, Massachusetts, and Denver — where large inflows of new immigrants seeking asylum were housed in emergency shelters,” the report says. “Using direct estimates from local government sources and indirect methods based on demographic changes, we estimate that asylum seekers accounted for about 60 percent of the two-year rise in sheltered homelessness during this period.”

During the border crisis under President Biden’s watch, some Republican-led border states transported migrants to Democrat-run states and cities such as Massachusetts, Chicago, and New York City, to bring attention to the situation at the border. 

A report from the Department of House and Urban Development released in December found that homelessness rose 18 percent nationally in 2024 year-over-year, the largest annual increase since the department started tracking the metric in 2007. Similar to the NBER, federal officials pointed to migrants overwhelming shelter systems as a reason for the increase in homelessness. 

The NBER report corroborates the HUD report, documenting a 17 percent increase in the “unsheltered” homeless population from 2022 to 2024. “Some people who otherwise would have entered shelters may have been displaced into doubled-up living situations or other marginal housing,” the NBER report found. 

It noted that the increase in the number of unsheltered homeless individuals was not as pronounced as that of those who stayed in shelters. Still, it pointed out “unsheltered estimates…are usually based upon volunteer-led street canvassing and are more difficult to validate.”

The report comes as the Trump administration is looking into alleged fraud involving federal funds that are supposed to go toward ending homelessness. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the creation of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force to investigate alleged what it calls “fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption.”

It will be comprised of prosecutors from several divisions of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles County, where there is an estimated homeless population of 75,000.

Amid the influx of migrants overwhelming shelter systems, there have been several reports of the struggle for native-born Americans and migrants trying to find a place to stay at night. In 2023, the Times noted that New York City’s shelter system was already under strain before Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to New York, but the situation only got worse after the influx of migrants.

One article shared the plight of a 65-year-old man, Roger Davis, who tried living in a shelter.

“He lived indoors for a year until it got too crowded. Nobody seemed to follow the rules anymore, smoking anywhere they pleased. The bathrooms became filthy, and staff members, exhausted, scolded anyone in front of them,” the Times reported. “Mr. Davis returned to the streets. Sometimes he sleeps in the subways, sometimes on the sidewalks, in shanties made from shipping pallets.”

In Massachusetts, the influx of migrants to shelters and the competition for space has become so dire that the Democratic governor, Maura Healey, is seeking to change the state’s right-to-shelter law, which requires the state to provide shelter to families and pregnant women but has been used by migrants arriving in the state to receive shelter.

In 2024, the rate of family homelessness set a new record in the state, and officials opened overflow sites — locations without the full range of services of a normal shelter — for families who were put on a waitlist for a shelter. WGBH reported in January that half of the state’s shelter residents are migrant families. 

As the state’s shelters are struggling to provide assistance to Massachusetts families and migrants, Ms. Healey is seeking to add a new residency requirement for shelters.

Applicants would be required to prove that every member of their family is a  “U.S. Citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or are here under the color of law.” Additionally, they would have to show that they’ve been in Massachusetts for three months or have an “intent to remain in” the state.

“I believe these changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system in a way that aligns with the original intent of the law,” she said of the proposed changes. 

The chief executive of the International Institute of New England, Jeff Theilman, told WGBH he acknowledged the strain on resources caused by the surge in homeless shelters. However, he said, “I don’t like the sentiment that … we should be fearful of immigrants coming here.”