Who Qualifies for Homeowner Stimulus: HAF Income and Property Rules

You qualify for homeowner stimulus help through the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) if you own and live in the home as your primary residence, went through a financial hardship tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, and your household income falls at or below 150% of your area median income (or 100% of the national median, whichever is higher).¹ Meeting those three tests is the qualification bar. Getting the money is a separate matter: HAF is administered by states, and most state programs have already closed. All remaining federal HAF dollars must be obligated by September 30, 2026.²

The Pandemic Hardship Test

Every applicant has to show a financial hardship connected to the pandemic. Treasury defines this as a meaningful drop in income or a meaningful rise in living expenses that created or increased the risk of falling behind on housing costs.¹ Common qualifying situations include job loss, cut hours, or having to leave work to care for a family member. On the expense side, large medical bills or unexpected childcare and remote-schooling costs count.

The hardship must have occurred after January 21, 2020. If it started before that date but continued past it, you still qualify.¹ You’ll sign an attestation describing your hardship. It’s a formal statement under penalty of law, so what you write needs to be accurate.

If you entered a mortgage forbearance plan during the pandemic and still owe a lump sum of missed payments, that arrearage is eligible even if some of it was incurred before January 21, 2020. HAF funds can be used to reinstate the loan.¹

Income Limits

Your household income cannot exceed 150% of the area median income for your county or 100% of the national median income, whichever is higher.¹ The dollar amount depends on where you live and how many people are in your household. HUD publishes the specific HAF income limits by county.³

States can calculate your income using HUD’s annual income definition or your adjusted gross income from IRS Form 1040. Treasury encourages states to exclude public benefits like SNAP from the calculation.¹ Every working adult in the household typically has to submit income documentation.

Two priority rules sit inside that cap. At least 60% of every state’s HAF allocation must go to homeowners earning at or below 100% of the area median income. Funds beyond that 60% must be prioritized for socially disadvantaged individuals before being opened to other eligible homeowners. Treasury defines socially disadvantaged individuals as people whose ability to buy or keep a home has been hurt by diminished access to credit compared to others in similar economic circumstances. Indicators include membership in a group that has faced racial or ethnic prejudice, residence in a majority-minority Census tract, limited English proficiency, residence on tribal lands or in a U.S. territory, or living in a persistent-poverty county. States may accept self-attestation.¹

Property Rules

The home has to be your primary residence. The federal statute defines an eligible mortgage as one secured by a one-to-four-unit dwelling where the owner lives.⁴ Single-family homes, townhouses, condos, and manufactured homes all qualify, whether the manufactured home is permanently attached to land or sits in a mobile home community. If you own a duplex, triplex, or four-unit building and live in one of the units, you’re eligible.

Second homes, vacation properties, and investment rentals are not covered. You need to have been living in the home when the financial hardship occurred and still live there when you apply.¹

What HAF Money Can Pay For

The program is broader than mortgage payments alone. Depending on how your state designed its program, HAF funds can be applied to:

Past-due mortgage payments, reinstatement after forbearance, and in some programs, forward payments to prevent future delinquency.
Delinquent or upcoming property taxes that could trigger a lien or loss of the home.
Homeowner’s insurance, flood insurance, and mortgage insurance premiums.
HOA and condo association dues, liens, and common charges, including cooperative housing assessments.
Utilities: electric, gas, water, wastewater, and home heating fuels including firewood and heating oil.
Broadband internet service, which Treasury lists as a qualified expense.
Certain home repairs necessary to maintain habitability, in states that include them.

All eligible expenses must relate to your primary residence and serve the goal of preventing delinquency, default, foreclosure, loss of utilities, or displacement.¹ There is no single federal per-homeowner dollar cap. Each state sets its own maximum as part of its approved plan.

The Deadline and How to Find Your State’s Program

The federal period of performance for HAF ends September 30, 2026. That’s the last day states can obligate remaining funds.² In practice, most state programs closed earlier, once their allocation ran out. Only a handful remain open, and some others are on waitlists or suspended. If your state’s program has already closed, there is no federal mechanism to reopen it or move money from another state.

There is no single federal application. HAF is run by each state, territory, and tribal government through its own portal. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains a page that will point you to your state’s program, or you can go directly to your state housing finance agency’s website.⁵ Most programs use a secure online portal for uploading documents. Some also accept paper applications by mail or offer in-person help through local housing counseling agencies.

Do not wait. Even in states still accepting applications, remaining funds can be exhausted well before September 2026, and programs that run out close without warning.²

Documents to Have Ready

Missing paperwork is where most applications stall. Pull these together before you start:

Government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, state ID, or passport.
Income documentation for every adult in the household: W-2s, recent tax returns, consecutive pay stubs, or proof of enrollment in an income-based program like unemployment or Medicaid. If you’re self-employed, prepare profit-and-loss statements and recent business bank statements.
A recent mortgage statement showing your loan balance, monthly payment, and any past-due amount.
Property tax bills or utility invoices for whichever expenses you need help with.
The hardship attestation, which is part of your state’s application and asks you to describe and certify your hardship under penalty of law.

Copy exact figures from your mortgage statement into the application fields. Mismatches between uploaded documents and typed entries slow reviews. If you’re scanning with a phone, check that every page is legible and right-side up before uploading. After you submit, save the confirmation number or receipt the portal generates.

After You Apply

A caseworker at the state program reviews your file, verifies your documents, and issues an eligibility decision by email or mail. Processing times vary widely between states. When you’re approved, the money usually goes straight to your mortgage servicer, tax authority, or utility provider rather than to you.

If you’re denied, the appeal runs through the state program that made the decision.¹ Treasury has discouraged states from imposing eligibility barriers beyond the federal requirements. A denial based on your credit score, a bankruptcy, foreclosure status, existing liens on the property, or a prior cash-out refinance may not be a legitimate reason. Ask the program for the specific ground for denial and whether you can appeal or resubmit with more documentation.

Tax Treatment

HAF assistance is not taxable income. The IRS classified these payments as qualified disaster relief under Section 139 of the Internal Revenue Code, so they are excluded from gross income.⁶ You don’t report HAF payments on your federal return, and your state should not send you a 1099-G for the assistance. If a tax form does arrive tied to a HAF payment, call your state’s program administrator to check whether it was issued in error before you file.

1
Treasury.gov. Homeowner Assistance Fund Guidance
2
Treasury.gov. HAF Closeout Resource
3
HUD USER. Homeowner Assistance Fund Income Limits
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 9058d – Homeowner Assistance Fund
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Get Homeowner Assistance Fund Help
6
IRS.gov. Revenue Procedure 2021-47 – Federal Income Tax Treatment and Reporting Requirements for HAF Assistance