Stimulus Update: Mortgage Assistance Now Available in Arizona
Through the state’s Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF), the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) has announced a program to help homeowners affected by COVID-19 pay for their expenses.
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Through the federal American Rescue Plan, the state of Arizona was granted $197 million to create homeowner assistance funds to eligible homeowners, KVOA reports. The assistance will come in the form of relief payments — up to $25,000 — which can be used to help cover utilities, mortgage payments and insurance costs.
Applications for the Homeowner Assistance Fund are now open in Arizona. You can apply through the program’s website where you will go through a series of pre-screening questions to determine whether or not you’re eligible for relief payments. In order to qualify for these funds, one of the following conditions must be met — and must be a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as determined to have begun as of Jan. 21, 2020: job loss, increased costs due to healthcare, or the need to care for a family member. Applicants must also have an income equal to — or less — than 150% of the area median income, and be applying for their primary residence in order to qualify.
The household income limit will then be calculated by county. For example, a family of four living in Maricopa County (where Phoenix is located) has an income limit of $118,500 in terms of qualifying for assistance via this program.
“The HAF is open to eligible homeowners statewide and the word has spread in many urban areas about the program,” ADOH director Tom Simplot said, per KVOA. “This ad campaign aims to reach those rural communities where there may be low-income homeowners in need and there are limited other resources available to keep them in their homes.”
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Homeowners will be able to apply awarded funds to delinquencies, mortgage defaults, foreclosures, loss of services and displacements caused by financial hardship, among other things.
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