Retired Subcategories: COVID-19 Response

Alaska Housing Finance Corporation:
Everything Plus More

It's been quite the year in Alaska. With 15 funding partners, we paid over 9% of our state's population rent and utility relief, and now we're trying to bring every homeless Alaskan who's willing into rental housing.

Connecticut Housing Finance Authority:
Connecticut’s Housing Assistance Fund Pilot Program

CHFA opted to run a pilot program leading up to its full Housing Assistance Fund (HAF) program. The pilot provided $4.8 million to more than 300 low- and moderate-income households in need. In the process, CHFA was able to accomplish three goals that were critical to the design of the full HAF program: 1) develop and test a needs assessment that reflected community-level conditions; 2) identify the needs of homeowners based on outreach to frontline stakeholders, with a focus low- and moderate-income households; and 3) design a method for sharing the program’s impact with stakeholders.

District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency:
HomeSaver: Retaining the Dream of Homeownership

The DC Housing Finance Agency relaunched the HomeSaver Foreclosure Prevention program to assist unemployed and underemployed homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgage payments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Agency lobbied the Treasury Department and was granted approval to reopen the program for a new round of mortgage assistance however the application period was limited to three months. There was no time to waste informing homeowners that the program was once again available.

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority:
IHCDA Provides Innovation in Financing for Habitat for Humanity of Indiana

Habitat for Humanity was severely affected by COVID on multiple fronts. HFH’s volunteer workforce took a major hit; HFH saw a rise in delinquencies as homebuyers experienced loss of income; and supply chain disruptions caused dramatic increases in materials costs. IHCDA provided Old National Bank with a $1M fund to secure the purchase of nearly $4M in HFH mortgage loans. This new source of liquidity allowed five affiliates to reinvigorate operations, facilitating the creation of 41 new homes.

Kentucky Housing Corporation:
Know Your Options – Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) Introductory Videos

When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) granting states funding for mortgage relief, KHC wanted to quickly communicate to homeowners that help would soon be available, but it may not be the best immediate option for them. Thus, the Know Your Options campaign was born. It was a multi-channel, multi-departmental effort to educate struggling homeowners about how they could rebound from COVID and begin rebuilding their lives.

Louisiana Housing Corporation:
Vaccine First! Outreach and Engagement for the Homeless Community

As plans for a COVID-19 vaccine drew closer each day, the Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) formed a partnership with Start Corporation, a non-profit based in Houma, Louisiana, to ensure that one of the state’s most vulnerable populations – the homeless – was not forgotten. The results? A proactive plan to reach, educate, and vaccinate homeless individuals during a time when uncertainty felt like the new normal. This data-driven storyline will serve as a successful case study for others to replicate and implement in the future.

Minnesota Housing:
RentHelpMN Resource Eviction Diversion Team

When the federal eviction moratorium lifted in 2021, renters in Minnesota still had statutory protections in place, provided they had a pending application with an Emergency Rental Assistance program. In many hearings, however, the parties or the court were unaware of the existence or status of an application, and evictions proceeded, resulting in renter displacement. Minnesota Housing staff partnered with eviction courts to be a resource in hearings, assisting over 2000 households.

Montana Housing:
Montana Emergency Rental Assistance Program

Montana Housing launched our Emergency Rental Assistance program on April 5, 2021, just 99 days after the Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law. We leveraged new technology and a network of nonprofit partners to deliver more assistance - over $53 million in one year - than our entire statewide PHA administered in housing assistance payments during the same time period. Our team also demonstrated effective public stewardship of taxpayer funds by isolating approximately 1,400 potentially fraudulent applications requesting over $25 million in ERA assistance.

New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority:
The Homeownership Community Heroes Initiative

During the COVID-19 pandemic, NH Housing established the Community Heroes Initiative to provide first responders, educators and other frontline workers with a $3,000 closing cost grant to help purchase a home. This initiative was established with $600,000 of self-generated funds to show appreciation for these essential workers, and to make their homebuying process easier (and in some cases, possible). We estimate the program will help about 200 Community Heroes purchase their first home.

Rhode Island Housing:
RentReliefRI: A Lifeline for Rhode Island Renters (and Landlords)

Innovation, flexibility, creative partnerships and a program tailored to meet the needs of Rhode Island renters helped this agency achieve its benchmarks and meet expenditure thresholds for two rounds of ERA funding. RentReliefRI has been a lifeline for Rhode Islanders. Launched in March 2021, RentReliefRI has assisted over 28,000 renter households to date, keeping families in their home during the pandemic.