State promises half a billion dollars for homeowner aid
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A $500 million dollar program to support struggling homeowners is launching at the beginning of 2022. Photo via Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of the Governor
By Rachel Vick
New York State is launching a new multimillion dollar program to support low and moderate-income homeowners struggling to keep up with payments.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund will provide up to $539 million to help eligible individuals avoid foreclosure, mortgage delinquency and displacement, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced this week.
"Many New Yorkers are still recovering from the pandemic, and just like we did for renters, our state is now leading the way to provide much-needed economic relief to vulnerable homeowners across the state," Hochul said. "We know that the economic pain of the pandemic has been felt disproportionately in rural communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities, and this program is a demonstration of our commitment to placing the needs of New Yorkers in need at the heart of our work.”
HAF money can be used by homeowners to catch up on missed housing payments and to reduce mortgage debt to make monthly mortgage payments more affordable. Those who are unemployed may be eligible for up to six months of future housing payments.
Eligible applicants must have household incomes at or below 100 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and must be at least 30 days behind on monthly housing payments for their primary residence. Awards will be capped at $50,000 per household.
If the resident remains in the home for a period of five years, the loan will be fully forgiven.
“I know homeownership remains an important pathway to the middle class,” said U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks. “Since one's home tends to be their largest financial asset, this fund's focus on home retention and helping individuals stay in their homes will go a long way towards protecting communities' wealth and ensuring an equitable economic recovery in New York."
The program will be administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal and Sustainable Neighborhoods LLC, a non-profit selected through an earlier request for proposals.
The state is partnering with more than 70 nonprofit legal service providers across the state to support applicants throughout the process. Among them is the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project, which offers pro-bono services for civil court matters.
“The HAF program will be great for many of the Queens homeowners who we work with,” said QVLP Pro Bono Coordinator and Executive Director Mark Weliky. “We work with homeowners, many of whom are elderly and may have disabilities and who have fallen behind on property taxes or water charges. The HAF program will provide the funds to keep the homeowner current on those charges and keep them in their homes.”
The only apparent shortcoming of the program, according to Welicky, is “that there are so many homeowners who need assistance that we don’t know how long the funds will be available.”
“Hopefully more funding can be made available in the not so distant future,” he added.
The new program follows what has been a controversial rent relief program. New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program was slow to pay out both tenants and landlords, something Hochul said has changed.
The state has now paid out around $2.1 billion in rental assistance for more than 164,000 applicants, according to the governor’s office.
HAF applications open on Jan 3.
Residents Can Visit the HAF Website or Contact the New York State Homeowners Assistance Fund Call Center at 1-844-77-NYHAF for more information about the program.
