Money still available to relieve NH homeowners with pandemic-related financial pressures
Town of Exeter, New Hampshire. Photo Courtesy of Town of Exeter.
Jordan Barbour reported this story on assignment from the Bradford Journal Opinion. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost
New Hampshire homeowners struggling with financial pressures related to COVID-19 still have a chance to seek relief from money provided through the state’s Homeowner Assistance Fund.
The program launched in May 2022 with federal funds overseen and distributed by New Hampshire Housing as part of the American Rescue Plan passed during the pandemic. The money aims to keep residents in their homes if they have job losses or trouble affording the higher cost of goods. Eligible homeowners can receive up to $40,000 to help with mortgage payments, property taxes, association fees and utility bills.
The fund holds $40 million and only $18.8 million has been disbursed as of September 2, said Mari Voisine, the New Hampshire fund’s program director. The program will continue until all the money is used, she said.
The initiative has extended to residents in all 10 New Hampshire counties and has had particular success in the town of Haverhill, which has received $211,359.34 in additional funding last week to meet ongoing homeowner needs said Jennifer Boucher, Haverhill’s assistant town manager. Boucher attributed the achievements of the program to two town officials, welfare director Valerie Morse and tax collector Justin Boulter, who reached out to individuals who might benefit and worked together to help those people prepare documents needed to apply for the money.
Morse helped homeowners in other towns, too — including in Bath, Warren, Landaff and Wentworth — with their applications. One situation in Haverhill left her teary-eyed, she said.
“There was an older gentleman in his 80s who had been in his home since he was 4,” Morse said. The man is retired and collects Social Security, but when he lost a supplementary job driving trucks for a construction company, he no longer had the additional income or the company’s health insurance, she said.
After he fell far behind on his property taxes, the town moved to take his home, and he had too little time to stop the process, Morse continued. Then her voice brightened. “He was able to get the full $40,000 paid toward his taxes, which left him with a manageable amount,” she said. “He was just so happy and so thankful that he could stay in his home”
In Vermont, the same federal funding program stopped accepting applicants on June 12. The Vermont Homeowners Assistance Program, administered by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, assisted 5,172 households and paid out more than $36 million in grants — nearly all requested funding — since its start in January 2022, according to an agency report.
To qualify for assistance, a New Hampshire resident must own and occupy the primary residence, earn income equal or less than 125% of the area median income, have eligible past-due expenses associated with their property and have faced direct financial impact from COVID-19. A new policy implemented in late August requires applicants to sign a grant agreement stating that they will pay back the funds they receive if they sell their home within two years. They have no requirement to reimburse the money if they keep their home for at least two years. Voisine also encourages potential applicants to look online at the application guide and checklist on the New Hampshire Housing website.
The last thing that the town wants to do is take a home away and have to evict people, Boucher said. “We want to be able to find a way to be able to keep them in their homes, and this program is a great way to do that.”
For more information about the New Hampshire Homeowner Assistance Fund, visit HomeHelpNH.org. For help with the online application, call (603) 444-1377 or visit HomesAhead.org.
