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.
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.
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!