Apple deploys $1 billion in affordable housing support across California

In conjunction with CalHFA, Apple has provided mortgage and down payment assistance to thousands of low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers. Close to two-thirds of borrowers identify as Hispanic, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, or American Indian. The program has also provided additional benefits for teachers, veterans, and firefighters — which comprise nearly 10 percent of borrowers.

Taylor Mestres and her wife, Keteria Lara, are both the first in their families to own their own home. Mestres, a sixth-grade teacher in the Manteca Unified School District, said she and Lara, a mental health professional, “wanted to break that generational system of constantly renting, and to have something with our name on it that was ours.” Given housing prices, they knew “it would only be possible if we could find a down payment assistance program.” After learning CalHFA had a program, supported by Apple, targeted towards teachers, they immediately began the paperwork.