Californians are reacting angrily to revelations that migrants who entered the US illegally could soon benefit from a taxpayer-funded state scheme to help hard-up residents buy homes.
Democrats on the California Senate Appropriations Committee have approved a bill to move forward that would open up the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan program to non-legal migrants.
The scheme was launched last year and has already provided thousands of first-time homebuyers with loans of up to 20 percent of a house’s purchase price for down payment or closing cost.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said the bill was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
‘Once again, California has chosen to prioritize illegal immigration and fiscal irresponsibility over the needs of its citizens,’ Desmond posted on X.
Non-legal migrants could soon be eligible for a tax-funded home-buying scheme in California
California is home to nearly 2 million irregular and illegal migrants, according to Pew Research Center estimates.
‘Expanding this program to include illegal immigrants is not just another handout — it’s a massive overreach that shifts the financial burden onto law-abiding taxpayers.’
Meanwhile, Golden State residents and others took to social media to brand the plan ‘insane,’ ‘nonsense,’ and ‘evil.’
One critic called for a ‘taxpayer revolt,’ while another said the funds should flow instead to ‘homeless veterans.’
The amended bill AB1840 has already passed in the Assembly and will go to a floor vote in the state Democrat-run Senate.
Then it would land on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
The taxpayer-funded scheme is hugely popular in a state where a single-family home costs an eye-popping $904,000 on average.
The loans are aimed at people who would otherwise not be able to get on the property ladder, and are interest free and don’t require monthly payments.
Instead, when the mortgage is refinanced or the property is sold again, the borrower pays back the original sum of the loan plus 20 percent of the increase in the home’s value.
When applications for the $300 million program launched for some 2,300 first-time buyers in May 2023, the funds ran dry in less than two weeks, according to the LA Times.
California officials later tightened the program’s rules by requiring at least one of the applicants to be a first generation home buyer. They also introduced a lottery to select recipients.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said the bill was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill to move forward last week.
Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, a Fresno Democrat, in January introduced his bill to expand the scheme’s eligibility to undocumented migrants.
The amendment alters the program by stating that applicants ‘shall not be disqualified by the agency solely based on the applicant’s immigration status.’
In California, that amounts to 1.85 million migrants without legal papers, according to Pew Research Center estimates.
‘Homeownership has historically been the primary means of accumulating generational wealth in the United States,’ Arambula told the LA Times earlier this year.
‘The social and economic benefits of homeownership should be available to everyone.’
Though the scheme requires loans are repaid when the property is sold or remortgaged, it remains unclear how its expansion to non-legal migrants will increase the number of applicants and running costs.
California has been battling budget deficit for years. Newsom signed a budget deal last month to close an estimated $46.8-billion deficit through $16 billion in spending cuts and upping taxes on some businesses.
