Mass HAF program keeps nearly 6,000 families in their homes

BOSTON --- Close to 6,000 Massachusetts homeowners who were seriously delinquent on their mortgages received assistance from MHP through the Massachusetts Homeowner Assistance Fund (Mass HAF) program. The federally funded program was launched to help homeowners impacted by COVID-19 with the goal of preventing foreclosures and preserving homeownership.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocated more than $9 billion to HAF programs across the U.S. and territories. As a result of COVID-19, 2.15 million home loans were seriously delinquent by December 2020.

In Massachusetts, more than $126 million was provided to homeowners, 5,949 homeowners were assisted, 350 foreclosures were postponed, and eight foreclosures were reversed. Instrumental to this outcome was the partnering with the Division of Banks, the Attorney General's Office and Greater Boston Legal Services to help with foreclosures and other complex cases. See Mass HAF infographic.

At the request of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, Mass HAF was administered by MHP, along with a smaller program administered by MassHousing for its borrowers. MHP partnered with 10 housing counseling agencies (HCAs) to ensure homeowners received assistance.

The U.S. Treasury set goals for the percentage of 100 percent AMI and below households and “socially disadvantaged” households the program would serve. MHP far exceeded those goals. A majority of households served were Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

“The thing that made the difference, and I’ve been doing this a long time, helping homeowners who are in foreclosure, is having so many partners that we could call on,” said MHP HAF Program Director Maureen Flynn.

“Our strong network of housing counseling agencies provided crucial support to homeowners throughout the entire journey of their HAF application with over 8,000 applicants being helped. Applications from domestic violence households were handled carefully and sensitively, ensuring applicants and their families were provided with stable housing,” she said.

The Mass HAF program had a dedicated servicer coordination team that solely worked on onboarding as many servicers as possible, conducted frequent outreach for updates, and developed relationships that helped in finding solutions for unique situations. More than 280 servicers signed on to participate quickly – faster than in other states.

“It was exciting. It was something we had never done before, administering a program of this magnitude,” said MHP Executive Director Clark Ziegler. “Unlike other states, we used these federal funds to fully reinstate mortgages for people seriously delinquent. Many, if not most of these households, but for the federal assistance we were able to provide, would have lost their homes. That crisis was averted for thousands of families.”

For more information contact Communications Manager Lisa Braxton at lbraxton@mhp.net or (508) 301-1526