The Relief Bill Includes Homeowners Assistance

Despite the future of a fourth round of stimulus checks being uncertain, there is, in fact, a huge amount of money that homeowners can tap into if they need financial assistance for housing expenses. 

The Homeowners Assistance Fund, which is not that well known, offers financial aid to homeowners to keep them from losing their homes. As part of the American Rescue Plan stimulus relief bill, a total of $10 billion dollars was allocated to the Homeowners Assistance Fund, which provides homeowners assistance with mortgage payments in an effort to prevent foreclosures, delinquencies, and late payment on utility bills, among other things. 

The law prioritizes financial assistance for homeowners who have been badly affected by the pandemic. The Treasury Department noted that it used national and local income indicators to maximize the effect of where the money is distributed. 

The Homeowners Assistance Fund provides at least $50 million to U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Further, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Tribes or Tribally-designated housing entities are allocated $498 million. $30 million is also provided to the territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

Homeowners may be eligible to receive money through the Homeowners Assistance Fund if they have experienced financial difficulties after January 21, 2020, and have an income equal to or below 150% of the median income of the region. Additionally, homeowners must also be able to provide the nature of their financial difficulty, like, say, a reduction in income, increasing healthcare costs, a job loss, etc. 

Homeowners who hold an outstanding mortgage balance of under $548,250 as of 2021, are eligible to claim this assistance.