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www.politico.com

A first-in-the-nation California proposal could make undocumented immigrants eligible for up to $150,000 in state-supported home loans just as immigration has become an incendiary topic in the presidential election.

The measure is likely to pass the California Legislature this week where Democrats enjoy a supermajority and in a state that has the largest share of undocumented immigrants in the country.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a top surrogate for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, declined to say whether he would sign the measure if it clears the statehouse by the Aug. 31 deadline. He would likely make a decision while Republican nominee Donald Trump criticizes Harris over the influx in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border early on in Biden’s tenure and as Harris moves to the right on immigration.

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
    272·
    3 months ago

    Meanwhile, California won’t meaningfully build housing. This will do nothing to address the actual fucking problem, which is that there is a shortage of 2-3 million homes in the state. Let’s stop driving up the cost of housing with USELESS demand-side incentives that only increase competition for the limited supply of houses — further increasing prices. The only way to lower the cost of housing for everyone is to actually increase the supply.

    God damn; I am democrat, but in the state of California you really wish there was an alternative some times.

    Also, in an election year, whoever introduced this was an idiot. Now it becomes something Kamala has to defend.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 months ago

      For any government to seriously tackle housing shortages means a massive building campaign. What happens then is that a huge glut of new houses flood the market, driving existing home prices down.

      This then risks putting millions of homeowners’ mortgages underwater. No government wants to do this! It would be political suicide!

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    113·
    3 months ago

    Can we maybe work on helping them with citizenship first before we go pissing EVERYONE off with this?

    Homeownership is an issue for everyone lately and this is their bright idea? Fuck the people that live in the US, they get at most a 15k first home buyers benefit, but if you hopped the fence you get 150k! so apparently you need some form of social security number so it’s not straight up border hopping to homeownership which is better I guess.

    I swear they want to lose this election… The Fox headlines are just writing themselves with this one.

  • TooManyFoods@lemmy.world
    91·
    3 months ago

    I feel like this could go badly. Tying someone to a permanent location who may be on the radar could be used against them. Also, if they then get deported, which seems more likely if they own to me, whose on the hook? I’m not sure from the article. Does a bank get the house and the money? I can’t tell if this is all state, or state supported through a bank. I could see this abused badly. If the house goes to a bank, wouldn’t the bank have a perverse incentive to report them and get them deported?

    • comador @lemmy.world
      5·
      3 months ago

      The assistance program requires applicants to have an SSN and Tax payer ID already. It also requires a proof of income in order to qualify for the up to $150,000 down payment. So, this isn’t for your typical undocumented immigrant.

      That said, I tell you there’s an even more nefarious use case for this: Mexican Cartel Members.

      They, Cartel Members, already like to have homes across the border here in San Diego either as a place to hide away or as a weekend home. This new law will in fact make that process even easier for them.

      Source: Mexican spouse with family in Tijuana that have associations with the Cartels. It was a hot topic for them on WhatsApp a few weeks ago.

        • comador @lemmy.world
          2·
          3 months ago

          From the article and the bill:

          “Applicants must meet requirements set by the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, including having a taxpayer identification number or social security number to apply for a loan”.

          If you’re undocumented, you can still have a taxpayer ID if you pay any taxes. The govt. would never turn down tax dollars after all and some companies who employ them make them pay taxes.

          For the more wealthy undocumented immigrants, they need only do business in the US to get a taxpayer ID. That could be achieved through contract work, a small business, exports from Mexico to the US, a shell corp or anything that may derive taxes that they deal with. That’s why so many, Cartels included (who own plenty of businesses here in San Diego) get in with it.