Welcome to the Real Estate Espresso Podcast, your morning shot of what's new in the world of real estate investing.I'm your host, Victor Manasch.On today's show, we're taking a look at what might be a rush for the exits.
When someone's deported from the United States, they're barred from entering the U.S., even as a visitor, for 10 years.So getting deported could be a big deterrent, something to be avoided. Some people who enter the U.S.
are true refugees under the Geneva Convention's definition of conventional refugees.These are people who are fleeing persecution on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, freedom of speech, and so on.
There's quite a few criteria that meet the definition.Then there are also many people migrating all around the world for economic reasons.
These do not meet the definition of refugee, and those folks need to enter the country through the proper immigration channels.
As we know, and as has been widely reported in the news, the new White House administration aims to reverse the past four years of open borders by imposing a mass deportation of up to a million people.
I'm not here to comment on the merits of the proposed action.This is not a political show.It's a real estate show. I'm here to predict at least one of the consequences of this proposed action.
First of all, I have some first-hand visibility into the world of refugees.My wife runs a clinical family therapy practice in Ottawa, Canada, with over 20 therapists working in the office.
A large and growing proportion of her business consists of assisting refugees preparing for their refugee board hearings.Many who claim asylum in Canada have come from all over the world.
Some are coming from Syria, from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Somalia, just to name a few.We know from experience that shortly after the 2016 election, there was a surge of migrants leaving the U.S.and coming to Canada.
Many claimed asylum at the Canadian border.It doesn't matter what you think about the upcoming action.Some will support the move and many will be outraged.There will be accusations of all kinds.
Some will choose to head for the exits rather than risk deportation. And deportation means being sent back to your country of origin.If you go back a decade or more, most of the migration into the U.S.
at the southern border consisted of people coming from Mexico.They were mostly Mexican citizens.Today, that's no longer the case.People are entering the U.S.from all over the world through the Mexican border.
The issue is not a Mexico issue any longer.If your country of origin was Venezuela, well, you're getting sent back to Venezuela, even if you entered from Mexico.
Just like we saw in 2016, we can expect to see a surge of people claiming asylum in Canada.How many is hard to tell.Some illegal migrants have developed a way to fly below the radar in the U.S.Others have tried to integrate fully into the community.
Some have full-time jobs.Some have driver's licenses and are paying income tax. Now, when Sheriff Joe was in charge of things in Phoenix, he took it upon himself to identify and apprehend undocumented migrants.
And about 200,000 people left the Phoenix area, relocated to elsewhere, including Texas, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, California, just to name a few.Now, the problem is that Canada has very limited housing.
In fact, there's a proposal in front of city council in my home city of Ottawa to build temporary accommodation for refugees inside two large inflatable domes, effectively a tent city under an inflatable dome.
Now this measure is facing a lot of public opposition.In fact, I also oppose the solution to housing for refugees.
I am aware of the kind of accommodation that are being offered to refugees, even under the existing conditions, and it's very substandard.So now to suggest a tent city under an inflatable dome, it's not a good solution either.
Some of the oldest hotels and motels in the city have been converted into shelters for asylum seekers. My wife has clients where a family of five are living in a single hotel room with no cooking facilities.This is not adequate.
It speaks to the shortage of housing that we're experiencing in Canada.Now in the 24 hours following the U.S.election, the Canadian government reported a spike in visits to their immigration website.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation also reported a spike in Internet searches for moves to Canada.We saw a similar level of interest in moves following the 2016 election.Now in practice, there has not been significant migration from the U.S.
to Canada along the lines of conventional immigration. The world today is a more dangerous place than it was back in 2016.There's a lot more conflicts and more people are being displaced by persecution than was the case back in 2016.
So we can expect more people fleeing their homelands looking for a safe haven.Germany has implemented border controls within the European Union in order to slow the flow of migrants.Canada is reducing its immigration quotas and the U.S.
is aiming to close its borders to illegal migration. All of this means that Canada may face a surge in migration that it is ill-equipped to handle.Now business, of course, is all about solving problems.
There is certainly a business opportunity to help solve this problem of finding suitable housing for hundreds of thousands of people who are already housing challenged and the many more that are poised to arrive here in the near future.
As you think about that, have an awesome rest of your day.Go make some great things happen.We'll talk to you again tomorrow.
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