How To Apply for the Homeowner Assistance Fund

By Monique Walker

Monique Walker has 21 years of experience successfully buying and selling homes in the Phoenix market. She knows the neighborhoods, schools, and the local economy. Monique and her team do all the leg work, keeping you up-to-date with new listings and conditions as they impact the market.

Today I’m here with my friend and client Dave Cherry who’s also with the Arizona Department of Housing. He’s going to talk about a special program called the Homeowner Assistance Fund that can help people keep their homes. It might not apply to you now, but if you know someone who it might help, please pass this information along!

The American Rescue Plan Act allocated money to help homeowners around the country stay in their homes. It’s called the Homeowner Assistance Fund, and each state has its own. Arizona was given $197 million to be administered through the Arizona Department of Housing.

How does this money work? There are three criteria: The home must be your primary residence, you must have suffered a job loss or loss of income because of COVID, and you have to make less than 150% of your county’s median income. 

If you meet those criteria, go to our website and fill out the application. If it is approved, we will make payments directly to servicers that you are behind with. That can include your mortgage, utilities, property taxes, insurance, or even internet. The whole point of this money is to keep people in their homes. 

It’s a little bit of a low-income program, but it applies to a lot more people than you might think. 150% of the median income for Maricopa County is about $110,000 to $115,000. Many people qualify for it, so it comes down to if you’re struggling and if that problem is related to COVID. Apply right away on the website while the funding is still there. 1,600 applications have been processed, and $18 million has already been allocated since the start of November. 

The maximum allowed per family is $25,000, but the good news is that money can go towards future payments. If you lost your job because of COVID but aren’t behind on payments yet, this could pay for those upcoming payments. 

Again, please share this program with someone you know who could benefit from it. Visit their website, which has all of the information there. Of course, if you have any real estate questions, feel free to give me a call.