An initiative to establish a first-time homebuyer down payment loan program for University of California staff qualified for the Nov. 7, 2028 ballot in California.
The measure, sponsored by AFSCME 3299, would require the University of California system to establish a down-payment loan program for support staff who have worked for UC for at least five years and are first-time homebuyers. The loans would be equal to 20% of the home's value. Borrowers would repay the loan when they resell or refinance the home, not monthly as with a mortgage. Repayment would equal the loan amount plus 20% of any increase in the house's value upon sale.
AFSCME 3299 filed the initiative for the 2026 ballot, but since the initiative submitted signatures after the suggested random sample count deadline, the campaign chose to submit signatures for a full check for the 2028 ballot instead. To qualify an initiated constitutional amendment, proponents need to collect signatures equal to 8% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election (874,641 valid signatures). The campaign submitted 1,265,569 raw signatures, of which the secretary of state determined 947,631 signatures were valid in a full check of the petition.
