Homeowner Assistance Fund Update

September 15th, 2022

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for HAF funds?

The $9.961 billion Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) helps homeowners impacted by COVID-19 pay mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, utility bills and other housing expenses. Since January 2022, the program has helped prevent over billions worth of mortgage delinquencies and defaults, foreclosures and displacement of homeowners in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam. While some states have renewed their programs thanks to fresh funding from ARPA, others — like New York, Rhode Island and Illinois — have closed or waitlisted theirs. As HAF approaches the one-year mark, volume and staffing issues have caused some challenges many states.

For homeowners who haven’t been making payments for the past couple of years, resuming mortgage payments is a tough adjustment. Some have fallen into delinquency and now face the burden of resuming mortgage payments — and adjusting to the payment shock. BlueHub SUN is working with people on how to get back on track.

How HAF is working, state by state

We gathered program details on the 11 states where BlueHub SUN is licensed and pulled together a status update as of September 1, 2022. If you have clients who are ineligible for the HAF program or who live in a state where it’s currently unavailable, we encourage you to consider BlueHub SUN as an alternative solution.

Under ARPA, Connecticut received about $123 million to establish MyHomeCT, which is funded by HAF. The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) administers the funds. To date, the program has awarded $4.9 million to 320 households and remains open.

The Delaware State Housing Authority received a little over $40 million for its HAF plan and has distributed just over $1 million of that funding to 200 households. The vast majority of the funds have been applied to mortgage payments. The fund remains open

In April 2022, Illinois began accepting applications from homeowners for grants of up to $30,000 per household. To date, the Illinois Emergency Homeowner Assistance Fund has awarded $309 million. The fund is no longer accepting applications.

The Maryland Homeowner Assistance Fund received over $248 million in grant and loan monies and has awarded $30.7 million to date. The awards for mortgage and housing assistance and emergency repair went to just over 1,600 applicants. The fund remains open.

The Massachusetts HAF Program provides up to $50,000 in financial assistance to eligible homeowners. To date, the program has awarded $107 million in mortgage relief to 1,541 households from a pool of $180 million in aid. The majority of the funding went to Springfield, with 634 applicants to date. The fund remains open.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) received $24 million to support the Michigan HAF (MIHAF) program. To date, the program has awarded $36.5 million to 5,203 eligible homeowners. The fund remains open.

The New Jersey Emergency Rescue Mortgage Assistance (ERMA) program provides up to $35,000 per household for COVID-related housing expenses. The fund remains open.

As of June 30, 2022, the Save the Dream Ohio fund had disbursed $35 million in HAF funds to 6,470 households from a pool of $280 million. The fund remains open.

Under ARPA, the U.S. Treasury allocated $350 million to the Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PAHAF). To date, the fund has disbursed $36 million to 4,664 applicants. The fund remains open.

The Homeowner Assistance Fund Rhode Island (HAF-RI) program received $50 million and has disbursed $19 million to 755 applicants to date. Due to a high volume of applications outpacing available funds, the program was suspended in March.

The Wisconsin Help for Homeowners (WHH) received $92 million in federal funding to provide a maximum of $40,000 in assistance for eligible households. The fund remains open.

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