Undocumented Migrants Could Get Help to Buy Homes

Undocumented migrants may soon get easier access to purchasing a home under a proposal put forward in California.

In January, Joaquin Arambula, a California state assemblymember, introduced a bill that would expand the eligibility requirement for a state loan program and make loans for first-time buyers available to undocumented migrants.

Though the original bill does not exclude undocumented migrants, Assembly Bill 1840 specifies that applicants to the California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan program "shall not be disqualified solely based on the applicant's immigration status."

Across the country, housing markets have seen high mortgage rates and increasing prices, causing concerns about the viability of homeownership for middle-class Americans.

Established in 2023 to help low- and middle-income earners buy a home of their own, the program offers eligible buyers a down-payment loan worth up to 20 percent of the purchase price. Loans offered under the program do not accrue interest and do not need to be repaid in monthly installments.

The borrower instead repays the original amount of the loan plus 20 percent of the increase in the home's value when it is sold or the mortgage is refinanced. The down-payment program was so popular that its $300 million in funding ran out 11 days after it began, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Arambula, a Democrat, said of the bill: "What we are simply saying is those that have been in our state for years, if not decades, who are otherwise able to qualify for a loan should also be able to apply through the California Dream for All, and we are providing that clarity with our bill," NBC San Diego reported.

Newsweek has contacted Arambula for comment via email outside of normal working hours.

Californians are eligible to apply if they have never owned a home, or if they owned a home three or more years ago but sold it. They must also plan to live in the home they want to purchase.

Arambula said undocumented migrants already have access to the program, but the wording of the original legislation was unclear, which could disenfranchise them from applying.

"It's that ambiguity for undocumented individuals, despite the fact that they've qualified under existing criteria, such as having a qualified mortgage," he told the Los Angeles Times. "[It] underscores the pressing need for us to introduce legislation."

However, the proposal has irked other California officials, who claim the program should be in place only for those who have legal status or for those on veteran assistance programs.

"They should be first in line to buy homes and to get assistance, not people who aren't from this country," Bill Wells, the Republican mayor of El Cajon, told CBS News.

He added: "And you know, in fact, some come from countries that our young men and women were actually fighting against. We shouldn't move people to the front of the line who haven't paid their dues."

Republican Jim Desmond, the supervisor representing San Diego County's 5th District, told NBC San Diego: "We have a huge housing crisis in California, and anything we can do to get people into housing, we should do. However, we should help our own first. This next generation of people growing up can't afford a house. I've got two kids in their early 30s, and most of their friends do not own houses."