Longtime, multi-generation California resident Faith Lersey, along with her husband and four children, packed their bags and moved to South Carolina to purchase a home for the first time in May. The cost of owning a home in California was unaffordable, so they set their sights elsewhere.
Now, the Golden State’s progressive legislature is pushing a bill that would give illegal immigrants up to $150,000 in first-time homebuyer loans — a bill that, if passed and signed into law, would give first-time homebuyers up to 20% of the home’s value or up to $150,000 in down payment assistance.
“That seems silly to me,” Lersey, who moved from Los Angeles County, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
California is close to approving $150,000 loans for illegal immigrants to help them buy homes
California Governor Gavin Newsom looks on during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)
“Why help an undocumented population get homeownership in a place where citizens who, like myself, have lived in that area for a long time, with a generational history, are having enough trouble achieving that milestone?” Lersey said. “That really makes me wonder where the motive for that is coming from, whose interest it is, and what the long-term game is.”
Lersey added that her current home in South Carolina is three times cheaper than the homes she and her husband were considering in California.
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A view of the California State Capitol building in Sacramento on March 13. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for the National Urban League)
The bill, AB 1840, would require the California Housing Finance Authority’s homeownership assistance program, or California Dream for All Program, to include applications for illegal immigrants.
The bill passed the state Senate on Tuesday.
The California Dream for All program was approved despite funds running out just 11 days after it was implemented in June, when aid was awarded to 1,700 first-time homebuyers at the time. Finding more funding for the program was the main concern in the floor debate this week.
Meanwhile, California remains billions of dollars in debt and scores of residents have fled the state in the past four years, citing the high cost of living.
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A carrier moving boxes. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
A spokesperson for the California Department of Finance confirmed to KCRA 3 on Tuesday that California Dream for All does not have enough money to fund the program.
The move comes in the context of a national election in which immigration has taken center stage, the report notes, with the Trump campaign attempting to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to the Biden administration’s border policies that have proven unpopular with voters.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been a top campaign snitch for President Biden and now Harris, has not said whether he will sign the bill if it passes the legislature by the Aug. 31 deadline.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Michael Lee contributed to this report.
