Boston Needs More Homes. So Why Are We Driving Out the Workers Who Build Them?
Anthony D'Isidoro
REAL-LIFE IMPACT
Boston Needs More Homes. So Why Are We Driving Out the Workers Who Build Them?
Federal Immigration Policy Risks Shutting Down Construction Pipeline
Marc Savatsky
At 6:30 a.m., before the first nail is driven, I walk my job sites with coffee and donuts. I’ve done this for 15 years, overseeing the construction and development of nearly 200 homes across Greater Boston.
Usually, the air is filled with the sound of generators and the rhythmic hustle of a crew starting their day.
Lately, it’s been quieter.
My guys aren’t missing because they’re sick or because they’ve found better-paying gigs. They’re missing because they are afraid.
In our tight-knit industry, word travels fast. A checkpoint in East Boston, a raid in Chelsea, a cousin detained two towns over.
This fear isn’t abstract and it is beginning to paralyze the construction pipeline this city desperately needs.
The Math of Scarcity
Boston faces a severe housing shortfall, roughly 200,000 units needed statewide by 2030, according to 2023 estimates by researchers at The Boston Foundation.
While we debate zoning and interest rates, we are ignoring the most volatile variable in the equation: the labor force. Immigrants make up about 26 percent of Massachusetts’ construction workforce according to the American Immigration Council.
When enforcement actions create fear, crews shrink, leading to delays that add meaningful carry costs like extended financing and project staffing premiums. For instance, a recent project I managed lost two weeks when my roofing crew stayed home, pushing back the entire timeline.
The immigrant tradespeople currently being targeted are not “unskilled” interchangeable labor filling gaps; they are the specialized craftsmen like finish carpenters, framers, roofers and masons.
A Threat to the Entire Site
I recognize valid worries: Enforcement aims to uphold laws and ensure public safety, and some argue that a shrinking immigrant workforce will naturally drive up wages for American-born workers.
However, data compiled by the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors shows that in tight labor markets like construction, where the unemployment rate is under 5 percent, immigrant workers complement rather than displace U.S.-born ones, often filling specialized gaps. A shrinking workforce doesn’t boost wages, it halts projects.
Construction is a symphony of dependencies. If the foundation isn’t poured because of a shortage of crews, the American-born electrician and the union plumber don’t get raises; they get furloughed. This scarcity drives up costs, making housing less affordable for everyone, including working-class families.
Scarcity doesn’t subsidize wages, it inflates prices. By dismantling our existing workforce amid a housing crisis, we aren’t protecting jobs; we’re guaranteeing that the few homes we manage to build will cost even more and that far fewer will get built at all.
The Cost of Silence
Boston’s business and civic leaders have stayed largely silent on the current enforcement climate, likely to sidestep controversy. Those of us working boots-on-the-ground alongside these men and women see it clearly as both a social and moral failure – but everyone must now recognize it for what it also is: a direct operational threat to business.
We need targeted advocacy for three priorities.
First, we need expanded legal pathways tailored to construction trades. Our federal delegation in Congress should back proposals modeled on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025 (H.R. 3227) or state-level Temporary Protected Status expansions for skilled tradespeople.
Second, we need faster, streamlined work authorizations for contributors already in our economy. There needs to be a push for accelerated H-2B visa processing if that seasonal worker visa program’s cap is lifted beyond the current 66,000-person limit.
Lastly, we need a clear separation of public-safety enforcement from essential workers who are building Boston’s future. That means prioritizing individuals with violent criminal records and genuine threats to community safety, not fathers with clean records who show up to frame houses every morning. An enforcement strategy focused on serious offenders protects the public without destabilizing entire industries or further stalling new housing starts.
These workers framing the walls of the homes we need aren’t political abstractions, they’re the backbone of our regional economy. If Greater Boston is serious about building its way out of this crisis, our leaders must stop treating immigration as a “sensitive topic” and start treating it as the economic imperative it is.
The math is brutally simple: No workers, no housing. The politics are tough, but waiting for someone else to speak first is over. Silence has a price, and right now it’s being tacked onto your neighbor’s rent.
Marc Savatsky is founder of Choose Boston LLC.