Oregon Housing and Community Services will resume accepting applications for the state’s Homeowner Assistance Fund program at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, to offer temporary coronavirus mortgage relief to homeowners who experienced severe financial hardships due to the pandemic.
According to the agency, there are enough federal funds to support about 500 additional eligible homeowners by providing funding for past-due mortgages and other housing expenses, as well as ongoing payment assistance to a limited number of homeowners with low to moderate incomes.
“Oregon families that were financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and are now at risk of foreclosure should review the HAF eligibility requirements and consider submitting an application,” Ryan Vanden Brink, assistant director of Homeowner Assistance Programs, said. “Any homeowner falling behind should reach out to their mortgage servicer or a free housing counselor at a state-approved homeownership center right away.”
According to OHCS, homeowners can get free help from certified housing counselors around the state to learn about budgeting tools and options to keep their homes, such as modifications, adding deferred payments to the end of a mortgage, or HAF.
A list of free certified housing counselors by county can be found at shorturl.at/lsuJX.
Some housing counseling agencies take longer to respond due to remote working policies, according to the OHCS.
In addition to connecting with a certified housing counselor, Oregon homeowners should contact their mortgage servicers and lenders to see what types of mortgage assistance and foreclosure prevention programs are available, the agency states. It also states homeowners who communicate with their lenders and servicers have some additional protections and usually have more time to learn of options.
The May 31 application pause allowed the agency to assess applications in its queue and project the amount of HAF funds remaining for homeowners, the agency states. It also states as an exception during the pause, it continued serving the most at-risk homeowners who were in active foreclosure.
HAF will reopen with a focus on homeowners in active foreclosure and those traditionally underserved by mortgage markets, the agency states. Homeowners can learn more about eligibility requirements at oregonhomeownerassistance.org.
