Following Calls from Senator Hassan and Colleagues, New National Housing Assistance Website Now Available to Help Renters, Homeowners Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Statement

Following calls from Senator Hassan and her colleagues, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) partnered together to launch a new website to help renters and homeowners learn more about all the resources and assistance available to them during the COVID-19 pandemic. The website details new housing-related policies, benefits, and protections established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On April 1, Senator Hassan joined a group of her colleagues, led by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), in calling on the relevant government agencies to collaborate and create this new website.

"The CARES Act included important provisions to provide support for renters and homeowners, and Granite Staters must know what options are available to help them amid this pandemic," Senator Hassan said. "I am glad that the administration heeded our calls to create a website to help people easily locate the resources and assistance that they need to stay in their homes amid this pandemic. I will keep working to provide hard-working families with the resources and support that they need during this challenging time."

Previously, each federal agency maintained its own individual resource website, forcing people to navigate multiple pages to find information about the protections and benefits that they need. This new website consolidates information about CARES Act programs, including mortgage relief, protections for renters, resources for additional help, and information on how to avoid COVID-19-related scams. It also provides search tools for homeowners to help determine if their mortgage is federally backed, and for renters to find out if their rental unit is federally financed.

The website will be continuously updated to reflect the most recent information and to help answer frequently asked questions.

In their April letter, Senator Hassan and colleagues wrote, "Americans throughout the country are grappling with the realities of the pandemic response. Social distancing guidelines are placing physical, emotional, and economic pressures on nearly everyone. Accordingly, we urge you to develop and rapidly make available a single website to serve as a clearinghouse for all new housing policies and tools that homeowners and renters can avail themselves of to get through this crisis."

Senator Hassan and the New Hampshire Congressional Delegation pushed for significant support for affordable housing in the CARES Act. They recently announced more than $6 million in funding to New Hampshire to address the impacts of the unemployment and economic disruption caused by COVID-19 in New Hampshire on vulnerable Granite Staters, such as through increased support for affordable housing, emergency food assistance, and health care services. This came on top of the $3.26 million to support affordable housing and $11.7 million to assist New Hampshire's vulnerable homeless population and other local needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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