California launched a $105 million mortgage assistance program on June 12 geared toward homeowners whose homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable at the hands of a natural disaster, including the January wildfires in Los Angeles.
The CalAssist Mortgage Fund pledged to disperse grants to cover three months of mortgage payments to eligible applicants on a first come, first served basis with a cap of $20,000 per household. Spanning more than 30 disasters across the state dating back to January 2023 – including Tropical Storm Hilary, various winter storms and earthquakes, and several wildfires – the program can go toward future mortgage payments, paying off mortgage forbearance or catching up on a current mortgage, said Rebecca Franklin, chief deputy director of California Housing Finance Agency.
At a press conference in Altadena, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger called the program “a beacon of hope … (that) will bring much needed support to Altadena homeowners who are facing an immense financial strain.” She pointed out the alignment of this program with the ending of certain lenders’ mortgage forbearance periods.
The launch of the CalAssist Mortgage Fund also includes an additional $25 million in funding toward housing counseling support through CalHFA.
Franklin said the decision to include a range of disasters in the program boiled down to the amount of time it takes to recover from such devastation.
“When disasters like the devastating fires in the Southern California area happen, the rebuild takes years,” Franklin said. “We’ve learned that … and so the idea was that if a homeowner is currently still being affected by a disaster, then we should be there to help them just as much as if they’ve been recently affected.”
While David Smith, a professor of economics at Pepperdine University, believes the program could potentially benefit some folks affected by previous disasters, he said the majority of applicants will likely be…
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