California’s homebuyer lotto was hardly a ‘Dream for All’. That doesn’t mean it should end

By Denise Amos | CALmatters Affording a home is no easy feat in California, where houses cost twice the national average. And for a lucky few, a state program aiming to help first-time homebuyers has reduced this American rite to a matter of winning a lottery. About 18,000 people last year applied for California Dream for All, a state-funded loan that pays all or most of a down payment on a home. Borrowers pay it back when they sell. Only about 2,000 families won the loans last year, averaging $117,000 each, and about 2,100 got them the year before. The 2-year-old program is costing taxpayers more than $500 million. The very existence of a down payment assistance program is a symbol of California’s failure to preserve economic mobility for younger generations. It begs the question: Is this a worthwhile way to help more Californians buy a home? Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t include any new funding for the loans in his initial state budget proposal in January. And lawmakers just gutted a bill that would have paid for Dream for All with a new tax on vacant commercial properties. Several dozen business and real estate groups slammed the new tax idea....