Pandemic related program poised to aid home owners who need financial help

New Hampshire homeowners who have defaulted on mortgage payments or property taxes due to the COVID-19 pandemic could see thousands of dollars in aid, thanks to a federally funded program that recently started accepting applications.

The N.H. Homeowner Assistance Fund Program began accepting applications on Feb. 14 from homeowners around the state who have faced a financial blow due to the pandemic. The program aims to help cover the costs of missed mortgage payments and property taxes with up to $20,000, and to cover the cost of missed utility payments with up to $3,000 of relief, according to N.H. Housing, which is overseeing the program. Each eligible household can receive up to $20,000 in total assistance.

Though the application process opened last month, the program itself hasn’t officially launched, N.H. Housing spokeswoman Grace Lessner in an email Monday.

“We are waiting for final contract approval from the Executive Council before fully launching the program,” she said, adding that opening the application process early means officials will be able to help homeowners quickly once the program does launch. “Opening the portal also enables the [N.H. Homeowner Assistance Fund Program] to test the application systems and gather further data on the need for assistance.”

Lessner did not say when the program is expected to go in front of the council or how many applications have come in already, but she did say N.H. Housing plans to share program data on its website regularly, following approval.

“No applications will be approved and no payments will be made unless the final contract is approved,” she wrote in an email.

There are some stipulations with the program: Only people who have suffered COVID-related financial issues since January 2020 are eligible, and the home in question must be their primary residence. Additionally, only those making less than 125 percent of the area median income are eligible. In 2021, the median family income for Cheshire County was around $84,000, according to N.H. Housing.

The assistance funds will be paid in two ways, depending on the amount a homeowner needs, according to a fact sheet from N.H. Housing. If the total amount of aid is more than $5,000, the money will be structured as a “two-year forgivable grant” that needs to be repaid if the house is sold within that time frame, but otherwise will be forgiven. If it’s under $5,000, it will be a non-recourse grant.

The program helps fill a hole in assistance coverage since the pandemic began, according to Natalie Darcy, human services manager for the city of Keene.

“There wasn’t anything out there for homeowners for the past two years,” Darcy said Monday. She said Keene has been able to help homeowners with some financial setbacks, but only with smaller concerns like principal and interest payments, not mortgage payments.

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“If I couldn’t pay my mortgage, then $20,000 [in assistance] would be massive,” she said.

During the past two years of the pandemic, Darcy said, the biggest financial setback she has seen New Hampshire residents deal with has been losing their jobs. Still, the Keene area has seen few residents face COVID-related issues with paying mortgages or property taxes, she said.

For those homeowners who have faced serious setbacks, Darcy said the program could be a huge boon.

“I’m really happy for the homeowners because this could save their home,” she added.

The Homeowner Assistance Fund Program is paid for by a $50 million grant to New Hampshire from the U.S. Department of Treasury as part of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021. The act aimed to help U.S. residents recover financially from the COVID-19 pandemic through unemployment benefits, small-business grants and housing grants.

The program follows the N.H. Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which launched last year to help tenants who couldn’t pay for their rent, utilities or other housing-related costs due to a COVID-19-related financial setback.

Beth Daniels, chief executive officer with Southwestern Community Services, which oversees the rental assistance program and has locations in Keene and Claremont, said the two programs are “similar in many ways.”

“This program will be very helpful to many homeowners throughout New Hampshire,” she added in an email Monday.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.