Here’s an example of bad policy.
California lawmakers giving democrats a bad name.
Photo by Daniel Abadia on Unsplash
California is expensive. Like, really expensive. The Bay Area is notorious for selling shacks for over $1M. Most of SoCal (LA, the OC, and San Diego, plus coastal cities like Santa Barbara) have median housing prices nearing $1M a pop. It’s not uncommon hearing another story of folks leaving the Golden State for elsewhere, citing high housing prices as a primary reason.
Enter California state government: seeking to help first-time home buyers afford a down payment for their first home with the Dream for All program.
The mechanics of the program are simple enough: American first-time home buyers can apply for government assistance for the down payment on their first home purchase. If they later to decide to sell the property, Cailfornia would get its money back plus some of the property’s appreciation.
People loved the program. Initially funded with an initial $300 million, it emptied out in 11 days as folks across the state flocked to get some assistance.
By all accounts this was a successful outcome, except for the fact that the money was depleted so quickly that there are still hundreds of thousands of Californians who are eligible for the program but can’t get their funds.
Enter state assembly member Joaquin Arambula with what I’d diplomatically call a poor piece of legislation. Mr. Arambula is seeking to expand the pool of eligible borrowers from just American citizens and permanent residents to anyone living in California, regardless of immigration status.
Enter hyperliberals screaming about equality and Tucker Carlson slamming sanctuary states.
There’s a lot of reasons I think this policy proposal is a bad idea. Here’s a few:
1. With so many Americans still in need of this assistance, it doesn’t make sense to expand it to other folks. Being an American citizen comes with privileges & benefits. That’s the essence of citizenship (not just in America, but any nation). Being a citizen comes with advantages that non-citizens don’t have like voting & reduced fees for state services. When we are talking about a benefit that helps folks afford a home (what I’d call a policy “privilege” rather than “necessity” like health care or food), Americans should be taken care of first before we look to helping other folks.
2. The program is already in a shortage, why increase demand? The $300 million allocated to the program went dry in 2 weeks. Another round to the tune of $250 million is going to deplete in a similar time frame. Clearly we need a lot more money to satiate existing demand for the program. Expanding the benefit would make this shortage even worse.
3. Housing should be tackled with housing supply increases, not government subsidies. This program at its core isn’t going to solve our housing crisis. Only more supply of housing can do that. Our state should focus on easing zoning rules & rulemaking & strongarm not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) counties to build more housing instead of spending precious revenue on the issue.
California is the greatest state in the union & I’m proud to call it my home. But policy proposals like Mr. Arambula’s aren’t how make our state better. We need to focus on common sense & sustainable policies that help our citizenry. Expanding the Dream for All program to include non-American citizens & permanent residents isn’t the answer.
PS thanks for your patience as I missed last weeks’ letter. I’ve started community organizing and it’s been making things exponentially busier for me! Hoping to stay on a one-piece-a-week cadence.