California Wildfire Assistance Program includes reverse mortgages
The new program has $ 100 million behind it, according to reporting from CBS Newsand will be managed by the California Housing Finance Agency (Calhfa). It will also be accompanied by “$ 25 million in extra support for homes via the National MortGage Settlement Housing Counseling Program of Calhfa, and none of the funds influences the proposed budget of 2025-2026,” the newsom of Newsom added.
The suitability guidelines of the program include explicitly reverse mortgage lenders.
To be eligible, a forward or reverse mortgageor must have only one real estate; The damaged real estate must have served as the primary stay of the beneficiary at least a month prior to the disaster; and the combined income of all occupants may not exceed designated income limits for the province in which the building is located.
The guidelines also extend the qualifying disaster period from January 1, 2023 to January 8, 2025.
Professionals in the reverse mortgage industry responded positively to the news when it was reached by Housing‘s Reverse MortGage Daily (RMD).
Leading reverse mortgage manager and sub -service Celink Participates in the program and is planning to inform the affected customers of the provisions, according to Ryan Larose, the most important customer and industrial relationship officer of the company.
“We are certainly aware of the Calassist MortGage Fund and we have already registered as a participating manager,” Larose told RMD. “We will advise borrowers that they will soon be able to apply, because the program will apply from homeowners from 12 June.”
Many of the existing company and outreach programs of the company can be used to inform affected customers about the exemption, he added, and said that the effort is in line with earlier aid programs.
“We have developed robust outreach campaigns for borrowers that may be eligible for this program, as well as others such as the Assistance Fund (HAF) of the homeowner and the DC Remit program (which is exclusive to reverse borrowers),” Larose explained.
“We are calling for outgoing calls and have developed e -mail campaigns for borrowers, and provide information about these valuable programs through their monthly statements.”
Larose added that Celink “is very support for Calassist and other similar programs, which offer much needed help to senior borrowers affected by different circumstances.”
Tom O’donoghue, director with Reverse loans nowHas influenced several customers by the recent forest fires and said that the program would help.
“The program needs more exposure, but it is encouraging to see that inverted loans finally get some support in California with regard to disasters,” said O’donoghue. “I personally have a friend who can benefit from this and I will reach her today.”
Ashley Smith, senior vice president of marketing strategy and communication Financing of Americaalso gave a statement of support.
“With Finance of America we fully support the mission of the new Calassist MortGage Fund to offer meaningful help to homeowners affected by the recent disasters in California. We are working to ensure that our customers – in particular navigate the recovery and reconstruction process – are informed of this important source,” said Smith.
“Moreover, our service team is ready to help affected customers recover with dignity and stability – to actively support them in understanding the application process for this program, so that they have access to this critical help.”
According to data from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), There are more than 5000 Thuis-Equity Conversion MortGage (HECM) original in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan statistical area, along with nearly 4,600 notes. California has long served as the most dominant state in the country for reverse mortgage activities.
