Wyoming Begins Process for Homeowner Assistance Fund

On Tuesday the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) announced that they are seeking feedback for the Homeowners Assistance Fund, a program for homeowners who have been late making payments because of the pandemic.

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The program will use $50 million in funds provided by the federal government under the American Rescue Plan to give to homeowners, with $10 million being used for administrative, counseling and legal costs.

There is also a planned town hall webinar on September 1, the fourth one so far, where DFS will solicit feedback from public on how to run the program.

Based on a draft of the plan, the state will give one time payments for past due payments, with a maximum assistance of $15,000 to cover people who are behind on their mortgage.

The draft also includes a number of eligibility requirements, including: the household income must be at or below 150% of the area median income, the property must be the primary residence, the homeowner must have experienced a Covid-related financial hardship after January 21, 2020, the homeowner must be delinquent by at least one payment, including due to a forbearance period, and the loan must be the first lien on the property.

The DFS plans to submit a plan to the U.S. Treasury on September 8 on how they will administer the program, and will then have the program up and running as soon as possible sometime after that date.

According to the draft, in May 2021, Wyoming had a 4.2% delinquency rate, with up to 1,923 Federal Housing Administration loans not having been paid within the last 30, 60, or 90 plus days.