Longtime multi-generational California resident Faith Lersey, her husband and four kids, packed up and moved to South Carolina to become first-time home buyers in May. The cost of owning a home in California was unattainable, so they set their sights elsewhere.
Now, the Golden State’s progressive legislature is advancing a bill that would give illegal immigrants up to $150,000 in first-time homeownership loans, a bill that, if passed and signed into law would give first-time homebuyers up to 20% of a home’s value or up to $150,000 as down payment assistance.
“That just, that just seems asinine to me,” Lersey, who moved from Los Angeles County, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
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Governor of California Gavin Newsom applauds during Day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 19, 2024. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)
“Why would you assist a population that is undocumented to attain homeownership in a place where citizens who, like me, had been in an area for a long time, a generational history, they are having enough trouble achieving that milestone,” Lersey said. “It just that really makes me want to question where is the motive coming from for that whose interest is at heart there, and what is the long term play?”
Lersey added her current home in South Carolina is three times less expensive than homes she and her husband were contemplating in California.
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A view of the California state capitol building on March 13, 2024 in Sacramento, California. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)
The bill, AB 1840, would require the California Housing Finance Authority’s home purchase assistance program, or California Dream for All Program, to include illegal immigrants’ applications.
The bill cleared the state Senate on Tuesday.
The California Dream for All program passed despite funds running out just 11 days after being instituted in June, which awarded 1,700 first-time homebuyers at the time. Finding more funding for the program was the prime concern in floor debate this week.
Meanwhile, California remains in billions of dollars of debt, and droves of residents have left the state in the last four years citing a high cost of living.
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A mover moving boxes (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
A spokesman for California’s Department of Finance confirmed to KCRA 3 on Tuesday that the California Dream for All has no money left to supply the program.
The measure comes amid the backdrop 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 Biden administration border policies that have proven unpopular with voters.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been one of President Biden’s and now Harris’ top surrogates on the campaign trail, has not said whether he will sign the bill into law if it clears the legislature before the Aug. 31 deadline.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Michael Lee contributed to this report.
Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.
