Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program: Eligibility and How to Apply

The main emergency mortgage assistance program in the United States is the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF), created by the American Rescue Plan Act with $9.961 billion to help homeowners who fell behind on housing costs during the pandemic.¹ It pays past-due mortgage balances, property taxes, utilities, and other housing costs directly to your servicer or creditor. The catch: most state HAF programs have already spent their money and closed, and the entire program ends by September 2026 at the latest.² So the first thing to do is find out whether your state is still taking applications.

Check Whether Your State’s Program Is Still Open

As of early 2026, only a handful of states and territories are still accepting HAF applications. Hawaii, for example, has shifted to a waitlist. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau points homeowners to the National Council of State Housing Agencies directory at ncsha.org to check the current status of the program in their state.² Don’t gather documents or start an application until you’ve confirmed the program is open where you live.

If Your State’s Program Has Closed

You still have options. A HUD-approved housing counselor will review your finances at no cost, help you apply for loss mitigation with your mortgage servicer, and connect you with other local assistance.³ You can search for a counselor near you through HUD’s online directory. Even where HAF is gone, your servicer is still required to evaluate you for forbearance, a loan modification, or another workout before pursuing foreclosure. Contact your servicer as soon as you know you’ll miss a payment; options narrow the longer you wait.

Who Qualifies Where Programs Are Still Open

To qualify, you need a financial hardship tied to the coronavirus pandemic that began after January 21, 2020. Treasury defines that as a material reduction in income or a material increase in living expenses that put you at risk of falling behind on housing costs.⁴ Job loss, reduced hours, higher medical bills, or the death of a household earner all count.

The home has to be your primary residence. Investment properties, vacation homes, and second homes are out. Eligible properties include one-to-four unit dwellings, and depending on state law that can extend to manufactured homes and land contracts.⁴ The unpaid principal on your mortgage at origination could not have exceeded the conforming loan limit for your area.

Household income must fall at or below 150 percent of the area median income for your region. Priority goes to homeowners earning below 100 percent of area median income and to socially disadvantaged individuals whose access to credit on reasonable terms has been historically impaired.⁴ Having received stimulus checks or unemployment benefits doesn’t disqualify you. What can disqualify a specific expense is having already received federal funds that covered that exact cost.

What the Program Pays For

HAF goes well beyond catching up on missed mortgage payments. Depending on your state’s plan, it can cover:

Mortgage reinstatement: the full past-due balance, including principal, interest, and late fees.
Forward mortgage payments for homeowners still in hardship, in some programs.
Delinquent property taxes that could trigger a lien or tax sale.
Lapsed or past-due homeowner’s insurance premiums.
Past-due HOA or condo fees that could produce a lien.
Utility arrears on electricity, gas, water, wastewater, and heating fuel.
Delinquent internet and broadband bills.⁴
Repairs necessary to maintain the habitability of the home, including additions to address overcrowding, as displacement prevention.⁴

Utility arrears are eligible regardless of when they were incurred, even if they predate January 2020.⁴ Maximum assistance caps vary by state, typically running from $50,000 to $100,000 per household. Money always goes directly to the servicer, tax authority, utility, or other creditor. You will not receive a check.

Documents to Gather

Each state sets its own requirements, but most programs ask for the same core paperwork:

Proof of income: recent pay stubs, W-2s, 1099s, tax filings, or bank statements. Some programs accept an attestation from a current or former employer in place of traditional documents.⁵
A current mortgage statement showing your loan number, servicer, and total owed including arrears.
A hardship attestation explaining what happened, when it started, and how it affected your ability to pay. Be specific about the link to the pandemic period after January 21, 2020.⁴
Proof of residency, such as a utility bill or property tax assessment.
Government-issued photo ID.
A signed third-party authorization form. Your servicer cannot legally discuss your account with the state agency without one. Some servicers require their own version, so check.⁶

How to Apply

Applications go through your state’s housing finance agency, which runs its own portal and its own online form. You’ll upload documents as PDFs or image files. Some programs also accept paper applications by mail; if you go that route, use certified mail so you have a paper trail.

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through the whole application at no charge. Counselors specialize in foreclosure prevention and work as intermediaries between you, the state agency, and your servicer.³ They also catch errors before you submit, which matters: incomplete applications are the most common reason for delays. Save any confirmation number or receipt the portal sends you.

What Happens After You Submit

The agency starts with a completeness check. If something is missing or unclear, they’ll contact you by email or phone. Processing times vary by state and by how complicated your situation is. Some programs complete initial reviews in under a week; the full cycle from submission to disbursement can take several weeks, partly because it depends on how fast your servicer responds to verification requests.

Approved funds go directly to your servicer or other creditor. If you’re denied, most programs allow reconsideration or an appeal, usually within a short window to resubmit corrected documentation. Common denial reasons are incomplete paperwork, income above the threshold, or a hardship the agency doesn’t accept as tied to the eligible period. Reapplying with better documentation is worth doing while funding is still available.

Taxes and Repayment

HAF payments are not taxable income. The IRS treated the pandemic as a qualified disaster under Section 139, so HAF assistance qualifies as disaster relief and is excluded from gross income.⁷ You don’t report it on your federal return.

In most cases the money is a grant with no repayment. Some state programs attach conditions, though. The most common is a recapture clause requiring repayment if you sell the home before a specified date.² Read the grant agreement before you sign, and ask the counselor or state agency to explain any terms you’re unsure about.

1
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Homeowner Assistance Fund
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Get Homeowner Assistance Fund Help
3
HUD Exchange. Providing Foreclosure Prevention Counseling
4
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Homeowner Assistance Fund Guidance
5
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Homeowner Assistance Fund Income Verification
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Allowing a Third Party to Work With Your Mortgage Company
7
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2021-47