SACRAMENTO, California — California lawmakers passed a first-in-the-nation bill on Wednesday that would allow certain undocumented immigrants to use a state program that provides up to $150,000 in low-cost loans for first-time homebuyers.
Democrats, who enjoy a supermajority in the statehouse, cleared the measure by a 25-14 margin in the Senate and 45-15 margin in the Assembly. Some moderate Democrats in the upper house joined Republicans in dissent.
The measure now heads to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk just as immigration has become a hot button issue in the presidential election. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is toughening her stance on the border amid criticism from Donald Trump. Newsom, who has a month to sign or veto the legislation, declined to comment on the measure, which was featured on Fox News and drew a critique from Elon Musk.
"This is not a bill about immigration," the bill's author, Fresno Democrat Joaquin Arambula, said on the Assembly floor prior to the measure passing. "This is not a bill about the housing crisis. We all know that no single bill can solve those areas. This is a bill about fairness. Those that are paying into a system should be able to receive benefits from those same systems as everyone else does."
Under the proposal, only undocumented immigrants who have social security or taxpayer identification numbers would qualify for the program.
The measure would explicitly make undocumented immigrants eligible for existing homebuyer loan programs run by the California Housing Finance Agency, an independent state agency. That includes a shared appreciation loan program called California Dream for All, which provides first-time homebuyers below specific income limits with a 20 percent down payment assistance of up to $150,000. The only interest the homebuyer pays would be 15 or 20 percent of the home’s increase in value upon selling the property, depending on income level. The program has received state funding, but the agency also generates revenue through mortgage loans and not from taxpayers.
Republican lawmakers criticized the bill by pointing to veterans and other people in the country legally who are struggling to find housing, and Senate Republicans quickly called on Newsom to veto the bill. Former GOP Congressmember George Radanovich, who is running for an Assembly seat in a district that borders Arambula’s, called the proposal “beyond irresponsible.”
State Sen. Brian Dahle, a Republican from Northern California, said on the floor of the Capitol on Tuesday that he wanted the record to reflect that “this is a California program which is going to affect our budget.”
“We have Californians who are not undocumented immigrants, who need these services,” Dahle said. “We should take care of them first, before we expand it out.”
Assemblymember Bill Essayli, a regular Fox News guest who has frequently sparred with Democrats in the statehouse, said in an interview Wednesday that he’s “heard more about this proposal than anything else going on right now in the Assembly.”
“Issues like this, when the Democratic Party overreaches, I think that's when people wake up and they go, ‘Wait a minute, what’s going on? What's happening?’” Essayli said. “We're so close to the election that I do think this could boomerang and really hurt them in the polls.”
Democrats invoked Fox News several times on the Senate floor before voting to advance the bill. State Sen. Dave Min, who is running to replace Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in Orange County, said the conversation around the bill has been part of the discourse that has “undocumented immigrants being tossed around like a political football.”
“It’s where Fox News, anti-immigration propaganda collides with housing policy,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who has frequently sparred with national conservatives on social media.
Wiener added that the undocumented immigrants interested in the loan program would be “exactly the kind of people that you want in your community.”
“These are people who are working and paying taxes, and yes, they should be able to buy a home,” Wiener said. “They should be part of this program.”
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