Undocumented individuals deserve a chance at homeownership. This bill would help | Opinion

How quickly people forget the COVID pandemic and our reliance on essential workers — many of them undocumented — to pick our crops or work in food processing plants made our survival possible. These individuals were disproportionately affected by the pandemic because they lacked a health safety net, live in bigger households that make it nearly impossible to self isolate and had no or limited access to personal protective equipment.

Farmworkers, who brave the scorching summer heat to make sure crops get harvested, are essential to the world’s fifth largest economy.

Yet, the same scare tactics sprout up anytime the government tries to help the undocumented community. Sixteen Republican states have effectively frozen a Biden administration plan to allow undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to remain in the country while they get legal status.

In more than 40 years of reporting on farmworkers in the San Joaquín Valley, I have found these skilled workers more than willing to handle the work no one else wants. They are family-oriented. Some of them nudge their children into college, where they have later become judges, school administrators and held other impressive career titles.

Thankfully, California does value the contributions of the undocumented, who make up 6% of the state’s residents, with more than recognition. And every August 26, California recognizes them with a day in their honor.

Asm. Joaquín Arámbula has led efforts to make sure California recognizes the important role of our undocumented community in powering the state’s economic engine. The Fresno Democrat has successfully pushed bills to expand health coverage to undocumented residents.

Now, he wants the state’s housing assistance program for first-time homebuyers expanded to include undocumented residents who are eligible.

“(Assembly Bill) 1840 is not a bill about immigrant policies. It is not a bill about the housing crisis. We know that no single bill can solve those issues,” Arámbula noted in a Wednesday press release. “This is a bill about fairness.”

The legislation (which Gov. Gavin Newsom should sign) allows any resident who secures a bank loan or mortgage to apply for a 20% down payment assistance of up to $150,000 from the California Dream for All program. The applicant, if successful, must repay the loan when they sell the home — plus an additional 20% of the appreciation on the home’s value.

The popular two-year-old program has quickly gone through the $700 million it was given, and no new applications are being accepted.

More than one in five undocumented residents owned a home in 2019. That’s 604,000 homeowners.

AB 1840 “is about providing an opportunity to hard-working, responsible people who dream of owning a home and passing that legacy to their children — a dream that we all have for all our families in California,” Arámbula said.

That, he said, includes “undocumented immigrants who have lived here for decades and pay their taxes. They are people who pay millions of dollars into our system and should be able to receive the same benefits as everyone else.”

Rhetoric seeks to sink a reasonable bill

Judging by the knee jerk reaction, some folks refuse to look at the fine print of AB 1840. Listening to X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, FOX news and some conservatives on social media, you would think Arámbula wants to greet undocumented border crossers with bundles of dollars while denying legal residents a chance of buying a home.

Some examples:

▪ “Politico reports that California Democrats are likely to pass a bill granting up to $150,000 to each illegal immigrant to help them buy a house.”

▪ “In California, if you’re an illegal immigrant, you’ll soon get $150k. So what’s $25k?”

▪ “This isn’t just misguided; it’s an outrageous betrayal of every hardworking taxpayer in our state. It is just part of the continued effort by the state to incentivize illegal immigration through numerous handouts.”

It’s a good thing Arámbula and his colleagues have done the hard work (the bill survived seven hearings) to make sure that essential workers, including the undocumented, get a chance at homeownership.

Senate Republicans are asking Newsom to veto the bill, saying it is “yet another example in a long litany of taxpayer dollar giveaways by California Democrat politicians that encourages and rewards illegal immigration.”

What gets overlooked is the fact that undocumented residents contribute their labor and taxes, just like any other resident, but they are barred from Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Ultimately, California should be looking for any way to increase housing opportunities in a state where the median price for a home jumped past $900,000 earlier this year.

This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 6:00 AM.