Emily Northrup with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission about their Washington State Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF)

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning everybody, and welcome tothe public Affairs show of your favorite iHeartRadio

(00:04):
station in Seattle. I'm your host, Lee Callahan, and it is no
secret that housing in the greater Seattlearea is cost prohibitive. It is so
unfortunate that so many people have ahard time live in the American dream,
which is home ownership. And onthe phone with me from Washington half haf

(00:26):
the Washington State Homeowner Assistance Fund totalk about this problem and its solutions is
Emily Northup. You are the grantsadministrator for Yeah, for Half. It's
great to have you on the show, Emily, and welcome. So tell
me. Everybody wants to know doI qualify. We'll get to that in
a minute, but let's break downexactly what the State Homeowner Assistance Fund is.

(00:52):
Sure. Thank you so much,Lee for having me on to chat
about this. So yeah. I'mEmily Northrop. I'm a grants administrator with
the State Housing Finance Commission, andalong with our team, we run the
Homeowner Assistance Fund program, which isdesigned to help folks who have fallen behind
on their mortgage, property taxes,homeowner insurance or ufder, a homeownership related

(01:15):
expense because of a financial hardship relatedto the pandemic. So this is these
are federal funds. Washington State receivedabout one hundred and seventy two million dollars
to help support homeowners who had hardshipbecause of COVID, and so at the
Commission, we are dedicated to runningthis fund and to make sure that we
get these moneys into the hands ofWashington State homeowners who meet them most.

(01:38):
Our state was hit particularly hard becauseof the pandemic, and when we have
the added factor that home ownership costshave risen, they're extremely expensive, and
so it's really important that folks whohave homes in Washington State are able to
keep those homes, to maintain themat a level of wordability, and that's
really our goal with the health program. Emily Northup is on the phone with
me, Grant's administrator for the homeOwner a ship division of the wash State

(02:01):
Housing Finance Commission, and Emily themouthful that is we all we really have
to do. Everybody is remember halfWashington haf At this point of the game.
My question is why do you thinkWashington State was hit so hard?
You know, I think it wasa multitude of factor. I think,
you know, well COVID geographically,we're a you know, major travel hubs,

(02:24):
so we have a lot of peopleand a lot of people out but
our seat, we we have Ithink industries that took longer to recover.
And then, like I said,just we have really high housing costs here
and they've risen i think faster andWashington overall, and then in a greater
Seattle area specifically, you know,at a higher rates than they have in

(02:46):
a lot of other parts of thecountry. And then we're still facing the
same economic pressures that you know otherstates are with you know, waits that
haven't necessarily risen to meet the risingcosts of housing. And then folks are
still recovering financially from the pandemic.I think that you know, a lot
of society has gone back to preCOVID term, but people are still struggling

(03:07):
with either paying bills they've recrued becauseof the changes caused by COVID or because
they've had to take new jobs,maybe their industry has restructured, and so
there's still a lot of economic impactsthat people are experiencing because of COVID,
and I think that's really important totalk that. You know, we may
physically be doing a lot better,but folks with bank accounts and wallets haven't

(03:30):
necessarily recovered the same way. Andit hasn't been that long. Now,
say a homeowner, No, now, Now, the half has been established
to help homeowners prevent terrible things likemortgage delinquencies and defaults and foreclosures, loss
of utilities or home energy services,or even being displaced. What if one

(03:53):
of these things is already happening,say they are in default or in foreclosure,
can you help them at that point? Absolutely? In fact, those
folks for who this program is designedfor. So half of the program that's
designed to help homeowners in Washington Statewho are living in the home they occupied,
so owner occupied properties. It's notfor rentals, and they have to

(04:15):
be behind on their payments. Wedon't make forward payments. So this is
specifically for folks who have fallen behindon their mortgage or are already facing foreclosure.
And so if you're facing foreclosure,I want to tell you it's not
too late. However, the clockis kicking. So I would really encourage
you to read the resource center.They have a hotline. The number there

(04:38):
is one eight seven seven eight ninetyfour for six six three. You call
that you will get connected to aninformation and Referral specialist. They'll take a
little triage of your situation and thenthey will refer you to a HUD certified
housing counselor in your area, andthat person will hold your hand through the
entire process. They can help youprepare your application, they can advocate for

(05:00):
your behalf on your behalf to yourservice or or to the county to try
and get to the bottom of ofwhat your issue is and if there any
workout solutions available to you, andthen they'll communicate with you. Want to
let you know when payments have beenmade once they've been applied to your account,
and so it's important to let folksknow that you do have a friend
in half. You'll have a certifiedhousing counselors that's assigned you'll know walk you

(05:21):
through the entire process. So regardlessof what your issue is, you know
you're not alone, and we knowthat this can be complicated, so we've
built in advocates to help you throughevery step of the way. Emily Northrupp
is on the phone Grants administrator forthe Washington State Homeowner Assistance fund AHAF.
So did you say you're going tosend folks over to HUD and they'll take

(05:43):
it from there, or you justgo to no. So we have a
network here in Washington State, andso we've been really successful, I think
with the half program because we're relyingon a network that's been in place here
for decades. So we have ourgood friends over at Washington State home Ownership
Resource Center WHRC. They operate ahotline that's available to any homeowner in the

(06:04):
state, regardless of your income,and they can give you information about home
ownership in general and then let youknow who can help you for facing issues.
So what we need to do iscall those folks. It's safe,
it's free, it's confidential. They'llget some information about your situation and then
they will refer you to a HUDcertified housing counselor These are folks that this

(06:26):
is their job. They live toadvocate for homeowners. They're some of my
favorite people. I have the pleasureof working with them every day and they
know the ins and outs of themortgage industry better than anyone I've ever met,
and they will advocate for you.They can call your service or they
can help kind of untangle some ofthat language to make sure that you've been
given all everything that you're entitled toas a result of some of the COVID

(06:48):
workouts, and then they can walkyou through what your options are, help
you make a plan, and thenput that plan into action in addition to
helping you apply for half. Sothese folks, I mean, they really
are super heroes, the fantastic andthey've been Yeah, we've had this network
in place for over a decade andso they work at multiple nonprofit area nonprofit

(07:10):
agencies across the state. So whereveryou are geographically, there's a housing counselor
that understands your neck of the woodsand what you're what you're facing out there.
And so I really can't say enoughfantastic things about them, and they
are really the key to making surethat that has gets into the hands of
folks who need it. So awesomefantastic partners. So we start at the
Washington home Ownership Ownership Resource Center andthat's yes, and call the hotline.

(07:35):
Okay, give the hot line thehotline number one eight seven seven, eight
nine four four six six' three. That's all you have to remember.
Call the hotline. Let them knowyou're having having some trouble, and they
will pointing towards the best resource availableto you and list the kind of troubles
again, so people know what absolutelybut you can help. Our program is

(07:57):
focused on homeowners in Washington State whooccupy their property and who have had pandemic
related financial hardship and have had difficultypaying their mortgage, their property taxes,
home ownership or condo association fees,WOW insurance, or some other home ownership

(08:18):
related expense. So again, wedon't fund repairs, we don't fund rent,
we can't help you with your secondhome. And there is an income.
There is an income to the program. So this is for folks that
are making one hundred percent of thearea median income for the county they live
in. Because the table published byHUD every year and your housing counselor can

(08:43):
help you determine if you're eligible basedon income or not. Okay, cool,
So everybody's different for every county.Got it. If you haven't problems
with any of those things, whichis amazing, even with insurance and property
taxes. I know friends who arejust complain and saddened by the fact that
the property taxes are what's killing them. Yeah, property taxes in Washington State,

(09:05):
you know, are not nothing hascaught at and I don't mean that.
I don't mean that to say,you know, it's very important they
fund public utilities. We have fantasticyou know, sewers and wetlands and all
sorts of things because we pay propertytaxes. Don't mean to disparage our tax
assessors. They're fabulous public servants.However, yes, some folks have definitely,

(09:26):
you know, we found if you'rebehind on your mortgage, you're probably
having difficulty with other types of homeownership related expenses, and so those are
included as well. So cool andeverybody start at eight seven, seven,
eight nine four for six six three. I have some more questions for Family
Northrop Grants Administrator for the Washington StateHomeowner Assistance Fund. Where do these funds

(09:48):
come from? Yeah, so thisis actually a NASH nationwide program. It
was developed by the Department of Treasury, and so these funds were directed by
Congress directed Treasury to appropriate a bunchof government works one hundred and seventy million
dollars Washington to help stabilize home ownershipcenter state. I know it was it's

(10:09):
a huge investment, and you know, we are we are really really thrilled
to be able to really target thesefunds to folks who meet them. So
this is not a loan, Ithink that's important to note, is not
alone. These are government funds fromthe treasury given to the State Housing Finance
Commission. These are grants of upto sixty thousand dollars per homeowner. You

(10:30):
don't have to pay us back.It's not a second lean on your property.
These are These go directly to yourmortgage servicer or the counting so nothing
passes through to the homeowner. They'remade directly to the person who holds the
debt. And again there's no obligationto pay them back. So I really
encourage folks if you if you're havingdifficulty meeting your homeownership expenses to please please

(10:52):
please call our friends over at theResource Center and let them direct you to
a housing counselor that can help.Yeah, so your job is these funds.
Absolutely? Yes, Hey Emily,when did this all come down?
Yeah, we've the program's been openfor about sixteen months now, so a
little over a year. We expectto have funds at least through next summer.

(11:15):
So there's yeah, absolutely, sothere's a little bit of a runway
there. At this point, we'vebeen able to get about fifty million dollars
into the hands of about twenty onehundred Washington families to help them maintain and
save their homes. So we're reallyreally proud of the work we're done.
Oh no kidding, this is greatstuff. You must go to bed at
night, put that head on thatpillow and going, oh, it must

(11:37):
feel good to do something that's helpingpeople out. You know, we haven't
finalized the market. I know there'sa lot of work to do, but
it's helping. So I'm hoping youryour listeners will pass this information along either
to them though to if you knowtheir own household or someone that that they
know, and have them call thatthat number, because you know, it's
it's really important home ownership is it'ssuch an important tiller of financial stability in

(12:03):
our country. It's how you buildwealth, it's how you pass that well
down to your kids. And soif you own a home, please let
us help you keep that home soimportant. From the time you start the
process and you find out that youare eligible, you filled out the paperwork,
how long does it take to getthe money. So that is a
difficult question to answer because every situationis different, right, and so we

(12:24):
also have to we're communicating with yourmortgage services, so a lot of this
is on them to get information backto us. Yeah. Absolutely, we're
communicating directly with your servicer about yourfile, so that sometimes can create a
bottleneck. We've worked really hard tostreamline that process. But we're finding that
once a file is complete, meaningthat we've got information back from your mortgage

(12:45):
servicer, we've got the signatures weneed, the file has been properly papered,
we're able to make payments within thirtyto forty five days. Oh that's
so cool. Another thing, onceyour servicer knows that you're getting help,
or that they're our client who itmight be behind in payments, Once they
know that you're helping them, doesthat kind of alleviate the pressure for the

(13:07):
homeowner too. You know, mostservices have been really really cooperative working with
us. But again, it kindof depends on your situations. So I
can say that if you're facing foreclosureand you've been approved for half, we
can there is a mechanism to pausethat timeline for sale. So again if

(13:31):
you're if you are behind on yourmortgage and you're facing foreclosure, even if
you have a sale date, itmay not be too late. Please call
the home Ownership Resource Center. Thosefolks are there to help you. Awesome.
Is there anything else you want tocommunicate to our listeners out there that
we haven't yet? I don't reallywant to say thank you so much for
the opportunity to chat with you aboutabout this half and what we can do.

(13:54):
And so I'd also like to letfolks know that we are on the
internet. We have a web pagethat's scott all of our program information and
it's got some basic information about eligibilityand then all of the contact information for
our friends at the resource center.So that web page is Washington Held Out
w A, s h I NG t O n h AS dot org.

(14:18):
Find you online at WASHINGTONHAF dot org. Washington State Homeowner Assistance Fund,
My Guest Grants Administrator Emily Northrop calleight seven seven eight nine four four six
six' three or tell a friendabout this amazing program. It is Emily's
job and all the fine folks sheworks with to spend the government's money to

(14:43):
help you in a tough economic time, help you hold onto your house.
I appreciate everything you do. Emilyso much for the opportunity, Lee,
It's been really fantastic chatting with you. I really really appreciate it. Thanks
so much for me too,