Even as housing costs soar amid California’s affordability crisis, would-be first-generation homebuyers have a new way to reach the American dream.
The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) is rolling out the Dream For All shared appreciation loan program for qualified Californians to help would-be buyers meet down payment and/or closing costs on home mortgages.
Who Qualifies and for How Much?
From February 24 to March 16, the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan Program will open for qualified Californians — including long-undeserved ethnic minority and immigrant communities — to meet down payment and/or closing costs on new home mortgages, planting the seed for intergenerational wealth.
Since 2021, when the annual Dream For All program started, approximately 4,000 Californians have been helped to buy their first home, with another 1,000 to 1,500 expected this year, explained CalHFA Information Officer Eric Johnson at a Thursday, January 29 American Community Media briefing.
Under the program, first-generation homebuyers mean somebody who has not owned a home in the U.S. in the past seven years and whose parents do not currently own one, or if deceased, did not own one at the time of their death; the term also includes or someone who has been in foster care or out-of-home institutional care at any point.
In the case of multiple borrowers on a loan, only one must be a first-generation homebuyer, but the rest must be a first-time homebuyer, defined as someone who has not owned and occupied their own home in the U.S. as a primary residence in the last three years.
How the Shared Appreciation Loan Works
“So much of a family’s wealth is locked up in their home, and you can pass that home on to the next generation, but so many families have been essentially frozen out of home ownership,” said Johnson. “In California there are thousands and thousands of people who have a good credit score, a steady job and steady income, but they haven’t been able to save up enough money for that down payment.”
The Dream for All program loans enrollees up to 20% of the value of the home for that down payment — for example, $100,000 of a $500,000 home, so that the buyer bases their monthly mortgage on a payment of $400,000 instead.
As a shared appreciation loan, once the enrollee sells their home, they must pay back not only that percentage loaned, but that percentage of the home’s appreciation — so $100,000 and 20% of the home’s appreciation per this 20% example.
This loan will save the average homebuyer about $1,200 per month, according to California Forward, a nonprofit that prepared a report for the State Treasurer’s Office in 2022.
Annual income limits per county can be found here — $295,000 in San Francisco and $168,000 in Los Angeles as of 2025, for example.
Community Voices on Making the Dream Real
‘The answer is always ‘no’ until you ask’
“In Los Angeles, the dream of home ownership is there … The question is: Why don’t we own a home? Few have the big down payment for it,” said Shonta Clark, senior loan consultant and CalHFA counselor at New American Funding.
“From the African American to the Korean American community here, most people who come to me simply don’t have the down payment,” she continued, encouraging would-be homebuyers to contact her. “But if anyone says that dream is not possible, that’s not true. They’re just not talking to the right people to find out how to make it come true.”
“The biggest challenge that I see in the market is the down payment … but it’s not just about getting them into home ownership, getting them the keys. We want to make sure that they keep those keys and that they don’t lose their house to foreclosure … through programs like these,” added Imelda Manzo, broker-owner of Premier One Realtors in Riverside County, where Latinos represent roughly 53% of the population.
Tiffany Duvernay Smith, a Dream for All beneficiary who was able to buy a house in south Los Angeles after years unhoused, said “The answer will never be yes if you don’t actually apply. My husband and I fell in and out of eligibility during the process … from fluctuating credit scores to ‘Oh, we make too much. Let’s go look at other programs.’”
“But this past September … after being diligent and being responsible and paying our bills and keeping our numbers up … we finally got approved,” she continued. “The answer is always ‘no’ until you ask.”
“Holding on to hope, taking the steps, taking the classes, working on the credit score, believing, working on the deposit — just do it and you get a house,” Smith added.
How and When to Apply
The Dream For All application portal will be open here from February 24 to March 16. Selection is random and not rolling, so the date of application does not impact chances of submission.
