4:00
Brief
A state agency announced this week that it would be merging two pandemic-era programs aimed to keep people housed despite economic upheaval, and officials said that millions are still available for those who need it.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund comes out of a $10 billion allocation in the federal American Rescue Plan Act. It’s there for homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Recipients can get up to $20,000 in aid that they don’t have to pay back.
Homeowners can qualify as long as they occupy their home as a primary residence, experienced financial hardship associated with the pandemic, received mortgages of less than $417,000 and have incomes of less than 150% of the area median income. In Albuquerque, for example, that’s $101,250 for a household with four people.
State spends $100 million on rent assistance, with $200 million more to go
The fund started at $55 million, and so far, the state has paid about $8 million to 1,317 homeowners, according to a news release from the state. That leaves $47 million as of Wednesday, Aug. 31.
The state now has a single website for applicants who both rent and own their homes. That can be found at NMHomefund.org.
Merging the programs is an effort to simplify access, according to a news release from the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.
Renters also can access federal rental assistance money. The state received about $300 million in from two pieces of federal legislation aimed at helping renters stay sheltered during the pandemic, and so far the state has paid about $167 million of it to about 71,000 renters.
Assistance is available from both programs until September 2025 or until the funds are spent, according to the state.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.