WHEREAS, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rules have allowed non-citizens including H-1B and other visa holders without permanent residency to receive FHA-backed home loans, a benefit historically intended to help American citizens become homeowners; and
WHEREAS, new data from John Burns Research & Consulting shows that the share of FHA loan locks going to immigrants without permanent residency climbed from ~1.5% in 2018 to over 6% in early 2025, before collapsing immediately after the FHA policy change restricting access to non-residents; and
WHEREAS, the June 2025 data, the first month after the FHA restriction took effect, shows an unprecedented collapse in applications from non-citizens, demonstrating that the previous surge was driven by foreign acquisition of U.S. real estate, not organic need; and
WHEREAS, foreign buyers purchased $53.3 billion worth of U.S. residential property in 2023 alone, particularly pricing out young Americans, driving up housing costs, and transforming neighborhoods into investment portfolios for absentee foreign owners rather than for American families; and
WHEREAS, American families are being blocked into lifetime rent servitude while non-citizens, including visa holders and foreign corporations, are handed subsidized loans and equal access to tax benefits funded by citizens; and
WHEREAS, property tax exemptions such as the Homestead Exemption, senior freezes, veteran exemptions, and agricultural reductions exist because citizens build the nation, defend the nation, and keep the nation solvent, and these benefits are funded by the very citizens who are now being displaced; and
WHEREAS, most states make no distinction between citizen property owners and non-citizen or foreign corporate owners, enabling shell LLCs and temporary visa holders to enjoy tax breaks that Americans earned through civic allegiance, military service, and generational investment; and
WHEREAS, other nations, including Canada, Mexico, China, India, and Singapore, restrict foreign property ownership or deny non-citizens tax privileges, demonstrating that protecting citizens in real estate markets is normal international practice, not extremism; and
WHEREAS, equal treatment between citizens and non-citizens is not neutrality-it is discrimination against citizens whose labor, taxation, and allegiance make public benefits possible; and
WHEREAS, a nation that refuses to privilege its own citizens is not a nation it is a territory for sale;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Young Republicans of Texas calls upon state legislatures to bifurcate property taxation into two separate legal categories:
- Citizen Property Tax Structure – full access to all exemptions, freezes, reductions, homestead valuation, and relief.
- Non-Citizen Property Tax Structure – no exemptions of any kind, including homestead, freezes, rebates, or preferential valuation.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, proof of U.S. citizenship shall be required for any property tax exemption or homestead benefit in the state of Texas; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Young Republicans of Texas declares: A country that privileges foreigners over its own people is not a country. A nation that refuses to defend its citizens’ right to own land is surrendering sovereignty.
Bibliography
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD 4000.1 FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook. Federal Housing Administration, 2024.
- John Burns Research & Consulting. “FHA Loan Locks to Immigrants without Permanent Residency.” Optimal Blue LLC data release, Aug. 2025.
- National Association of Realtors. 2023 Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate. NAR Research Division, 2023.
- Bowman, Ann O’M., and Richard C. Kearney. State and Local Government: The Essentials. Cengage Learning, 2022.
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Taxpayer Remedies. State of Texas, 2024.
- Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority. Residential Property Act – Restrictions on Foreign Ownership.
- Government of Mexico. Constitution Article 27 – Restricted Zone Land Ownership.
- China Ministry of Housing. Foreign Property Purchase Restrictions