Former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to buy homes with taxpayer loans in her home state of California.

“Making the American dream of homeownership available to all people is something we have to do,” the Bay Area congresswoman said in a Friday interview with Bill Maher.

Pelosi was responding to a question about state lawmakers passing a bill last week to expand eligibility for a government program which offers residents home down payment assistance. Under Assembly Bill 1840, the California Housing Finance Authority would be compelled to consider applications from illegal immigrants for the “Dream for All Program.” The fund gives first-time homebuyers loan assistance of up to 20 percent of a property’s value with a cap of $150,000. Buyers then pay back the loan plus up to 20 percent of any property appreciation depending on income.

“Giving government assistance to undocumented immigrants to buy houses,” Maher told Pelosi, is “kind of a different place than the Democratic Party used to be on immigration.”

“Immigration had always been a bipartisan issue,” Pelosi said.

“But not free houses,” Maher responded.

“Well it’s not free housing,” Pelosi added, “it’s making the American dream available to more people.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., has not signaled whether he will sign or veto the recent housing law, but a program in neighboring Oregon offers non-resident homebuyers $30,000 for down payments.

When Maher pressed Pelosi on her support for proposals to spend tax dollars on homes for people who are “undocumented,” the former House leader said “What I would like to do is move them to documented.”

Pelosi’s opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act this summer implies the “speaker emerita” also supports turning illegal immigrants into registered voters. In July, Pelosi voted with House Democrats who near unanimously rejected the bill to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in American elections. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is still waiting for substantive action in the upper chamber.

California is ranked among the worst for housing nationwide as Americans and immigrants alike cope with a coast-to-coast shortage of affordable homes. According to Zillow, the U.S. was short of more than 4.5 million units in 2022, with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Riverside, San Diego, Sacramento, and San Jose each ranked in the top 50 major metropolitan areas facing the highest housing deficits.

Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are now evaluating proposals to open up vast tracts of federal land to build additional houses. While Republicans on Capitol Hill have proposed legislation to allow the sale of federal property to state and local governments to embark on home construction projects, Democrats have demanded far narrower opportunities restricted to pre-existing development zones.