California Dream for All Program: descendants of formerly enslaved people.

Assembly Member McKinnor leads a bill that threads a descendant-focused dimension into California’s Dream for All program, reserving at least 10 percent of the program’s fund for applicants who meet loan requirements and have been certified as descendants of formerly enslaved people, once a certification framework for descendants of American slavery is established by a separate measure creating the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery. The core program remains a revolving system of shared-appreciation loans for low- and moderate-income, owner-occupied first-time homebuyers, administered by the California Housing Finance Agency with funding drawn from the Dream for All Fund in the State Treasury.

The bill directs the agency to adopt board-approved policies and regulations to expand access to homeownership, broaden wealth-building opportunities, and explore selling subordinate second mortgages to investors to generate additional funding. It envisions a long-range goal of up to one billion dollars per year in assistance and requires that any funds used for interest-rate buydowns be provided in conjunction with a shared-appreciation loan, with all repayments deposited back into the fund for ongoing program use. Regulations implemented under this part are not subject to the typical administrative rulemaking procedures, and the bill also emphasizes adequate consumer protection and disclosure protections as part of the program design.

Implementation hinges on an operative trigger tied to a companion measure that would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery and enactment by a defined date, rendering the descendant-reservation applicable only after certification processes are in place. The Dream for All Fund is described as continuously appropriated, signaling a dedicated, ongoing funding stream, while the bill notes the need to balance program growth with the agency’s borrowing capacity and other affordable-housing responsibilities. The proposal maintains the existing Dream for All framework—requiring first-mortgage financing alongside the shared-appreciation loan and permitting fund use for related subsidies—while introducing a targeted, descendant-focused allocation contingent on future governance and certification developments.