DeSantis must prioritize federal aid to help homeowners
The Orlando Sentinel recently covered the story of an Altamonte Springs man who faced foreclosure while waiting for federal homeowner assistance funds. This fund is meant to help people like him stay in their home.
This money, known as the Homeowner Assistance Fund, is part of the American Rescue Plan
Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden last year. Florida’s share of the funds is a whopping $676 million. Unfortunately, little of that money has reached the homeowners who need it. And the blame lies with Ron DeSantis’s best-known, and least-liked agency, the Department of Economic Opportunity.
The fund is designed to be flexible and available to homeowners who have faced hard times because of the pandemic, and want to avoid losing their homes.
Congress specified that the Homeowner Assistance Fund would be available to help with mortgage payments, homeowners insurance, utility payments, property taxes, and certain other fees.
The funds are available only to a homeowner’s primary residence, and only to homeowners who experienced a financial hardship after January 21, 2020. The funds are also need-based: only homeowners whose incomes are 150% or less than the median income in their area are eligible (or 100% of the median US income, whichever is greater).
There are hundreds of thousands of Florida homeowners who could use this assistance and have not received the funds. Why?
The answer lies with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to turn responsibility for this program over to the Department of Economic Opportunity — the same department whose disastrous inability to handle the surge of unemployment applications in 2020 left many jobless Floridians in financial ruin.
The first sign of trouble was that Florida was one of the last states to submit an application for the funds, delaying the program for a number of months. Now that the program is technically running, many homeowners aren’t aware the program exists. DEO promised the federal government it would conduct an extensive outreach plan to advertise the program. Clearly this marketing campaign has a long way to go.
And for those who have heard about the program and applied, many are left waiting without updates or communication from DEO. Over 24,000 homeowners have applied for the program so far, with only 386 families receiving assistance. Those waiting have no idea whether they will see help in time to save their homes. At present, DEO has disbursed less than 1% of the available funds to families in need.
DeSantis must do everything he can to make sure this desperately needed relief gets out to eligible homeowners. There will be no excuse if the same administration which failed unemployed Floridians during the height of the pandemic now fails struggling homeowners facing foreclosure. If DeSantis can figure out how to send out more than $600 million in corporate welfare in a timely manner, then he should be able to figure out how to distribute the same amount in federal aid to real people in this state who actually need help.