The federal government's main COVID-19 response for homeowners was the Homeowner Assistance Fund, known as HAF. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, HAF provided nearly $10 billion to states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, tribes, and tribal entities to prevent mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and loss of utilities and home energy services.

Program Design

HAF was designed as a flexible block grant. Each jurisdiction received a defined allocation based on population and housing indicators, developed its own program rules within federal guidelines, and administered assistance to its own residents. States built online portals, contracted housing counselors, and worked with mortgage servicers, tax collectors, and utilities to route payments directly to the right account rather than handing cash to homeowners.

Eligible uses included mortgage payment assistance to reinstate delinquent loans, property tax and insurance assistance, homeowner's association fees, utility arrears, and in some cases displacement-prevention payments for homeowners in imminent danger of losing their homes. Programs tailored the list to local needs.

Who Qualified

Eligibility was similar across most state HAF programs. Applicants had to own and occupy the property as a primary residence, have a household income generally at or below 150% of area median income or 100% of the U.S. median, whichever was greater, and document a qualified financial hardship tied to COVID-19 that occurred on or after January 21, 2020. Qualifying hardships ranged from job loss and reduced hours to increased medical expenses or family care burdens.

A wide range of property types qualified, including single-family homes, condominiums, manufactured homes, and in some cases properties held through land contracts. Programs were generally limited to one- to four-unit homes where at least one unit was owner-occupied.

How Assistance Was Delivered

Most HAF programs paid lenders, tax collectors, and utilities directly. That structure reduced fraud risk and ensured that funds actually brought accounts current. Typical awards covered past-due amounts plus a short period of forward payments in some programs. Average awards varied by state and by category of assistance, with mortgage reinstatement awards often running several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

HAF worked alongside CARES Act mortgage forbearance, which allowed borrowers with federally backed mortgages to pause payments temporarily. Forbearance covered the short-term disruption, and HAF stepped in afterward to help homeowners who could not resume full payments immediately.

Results Nationwide

Through June 2024, HAF-funded programs assisted more than 549,000 homeowners nationally, helping to prevent mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, losses of utilities and home energy services, and displacement. State-level results varied. Michigan, for example, disbursed more than $200 million to over 26,000 residents, with an average award in the $7,600 range.

The program was credited with smoothing the tail end of the pandemic's effect on the housing market. Foreclosure filings, which had been held down during federal moratoria, did not surge as dramatically as some analysts predicted once moratoria ended, in part because HAF provided a path to catch up without losing the home.

CARES Act Forbearance Context

Alongside HAF, the CARES Act gave borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans the right to request a 180-day pause on payments, extendable for up to a total of 12 months, if they affirmed a COVID-19 hardship. During forbearance, the loan did not go into default even though payments were not being made, though interest generally continued to accrue and a plan was needed at the end to address the skipped payments.

Options at the end of forbearance included reinstatement in full, a repayment plan to catch up over time, a loan modification, or a partial deferment where skipped payments were moved to the end of the loan. HAF could supplement these options by paying some of the catch-up amount or covering related costs.

Challenges and Limits

HAF had real challenges. Application portals in some states were slow to launch, servicer coordination was uneven, and outreach to the lowest-income homeowners often lagged. Some households with complex situations, such as land-contract buyers or heirs with unclear title, found the programs harder to use. Documentation burden was another frequent complaint, though most programs streamlined over time.

Funding was also finite. As states spent down their allocations, application windows closed. Michigan, for example, closed its MIHAF application period in December 2023. Other states wound down similarly through 2023 and 2024, directing remaining funds to applications already in the pipeline.

For Homeowners Today

For homeowners whose HAF-era hardship is now resolved, the next steps are mostly about credit repair and long-term stability. Regaining current status on a mortgage stops the immediate threat but may leave credit scores bruised. Steady, on-time payments over the following 12 to 24 months are the main path back to healthy credit.

Homeowners still facing hardship after HAF closed should reach out to a HUD-approved housing counselor. Counselors can help evaluate loss mitigation options with the mortgage servicer, including modification, repayment plans, and in some cases further deferment. Some state agencies continue to run smaller hardship programs that operate after the main HAF allocation is spent.

Lessons and Legacy

HAF is likely to be remembered as one of the most effective federal housing interventions of the COVID era. By combining forbearance with targeted catch-up assistance, it gave homeowners time to recover and then a bridge back to current status. Future emergency housing responses are likely to draw on the HAF model: federal funding, state administration, direct payments to servicers and utilities, and income-based eligibility with a clearly defined hardship test.

COVID-19 Homeowner Mortgage Relief Federal Aid Program