Fiona Ma Shares Her Vision of Helping Middle-Income Families over a Cup of Tea

In fact, during the last couple of years at least 35 families migrated to Carrollton, Texas, and many more called and emailed inquiring about the ways to move there, as the pastor of St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton reports. In Arizona, the number of families attending the St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church in Scottsdale went up from 900 to 1070. Its pastor, Father Zacharia Saribekyan, based this number on the church’s mailing list. He sees more families from California relocating to the cities of Arizona, opening ethnic grocery stores and businesses. There is a large migration movement towards Nevada, Oregon and Washington as well. The reasons vary from gas prices, to business opportunities and high taxes. Californians find it easier to buy real estate in these states especially after retirement.

This is the pattern that Ma hopes to break with a new project her office is working on. Increasing the creation of affordable housing is one of the biggest tasks for the treasurer. With her team, she is now focused on the “middle income families,” for which, she explains, “there is no subsidy; people make too much to live in affordable housing, yet they can’t afford a down payment for their house.”

The treasurer’s office is preparing to reform this situation through a “shared appreciation model” that Ma, Senator Bob Hertzberg and others plan to put on the ballot next November. “As you sell your house, or it appreciates, and you refinance, then you would put the money back in the fund so other families can access that fund. That is an opportunity for working folks in the middle income to buy their own home. And when you buy your own home that’s how you accumulate wealth and stay in California,” explains Ma.

California has always been home to a large Armenian population. The figure is listed as a quarter million according to various sources, like the British Broadcasting Corporation and Wikipedia. But Ambassador Armen Baibourtian, who serves as Consul General of Armenia in Los Angeles, finds that number should be threefold higher. He said in a phone interview that during the US census generated every ten years, Armenians don’t include themselves in the “other” category as Armenians. They overwhelmingly register themselves as “White Caucasians.” Baibourtian stated that this creates difficulties in gauging the real figures in the state and for the group to be included in the government’s programs for ethnic minorities. Also, according to a decision of the government of Armenia taken on September 29, 2016, immigrant Armenians are not obligated to be registered in diplomatic missions of Armenia, including the Los Angeles Consulate General. This creates a further obstacle in accurately counting the number of the Armenian population in California.

The treasurer’s first contact with the Armenian community happened in 1994 when she was a district representative of then-State Sen. John Burton. “In northern California, we have the Mount Davidson Cross. Every Easter and every April 24, the cross is lit up for the Armenian Genocide. Every Easter Sunday I used to go up there and celebrate the non-denominational sunrise service,” recalls Ma.

Serving in the California State Assembly she continued supporting resolutions related to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. She also encouraged the formation of the Southern California Armenian Democrats (SCAD) and continued to support them.