Find KY mortgage assistance through this government program

If you’ve struggled financially due to the coronavirus pandemic and need assistance making mortgage payments, help may be available in Kentucky.

The Team Kentucky Homeowner Assistance Fund provides financial assistance to homeowners in hopes to mitigate COVID-related foreclosures.

Eligible applicants can receive up to $35,000 to pay late mortgage payments, utilities, insurance premiums, property taxes and homeowner’s association fees.

The money will be dispersed until expended or Sept. 30, 2025, whichever comes first. Federal recovery efforts allocated $85.4 million to Kentucky for the fund.

Other investments taken by the commonwealth to mitigate COVID-19 economic losses include investments into unemployment insurance and public health. Here’s Kentucky’s economic recovery plan, released Aug. 31, 2021.

Although the federal government enacted a pause on foreclosures in response to the pandemic, it’s long expired, and legal foreclosures have resumed in Kentucky.

According to SoFi Learn, a financial advice company, 173 homes underwent foreclosure in the commonwealth in March. Nationally, there were 33,333 foreclosure filings the same month, a 180% increase from the previous year, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

If you’re struggling to make mortgage or utility payments, here’s what to know about receiving financial assistance in Kentucky.

Do you qualify for assistance in Kentucky?

To be eligible for mortgage aid, you must meet all of the following qualifications:

• Provide documentation of COVID-19 hardship beginning or worsening after Jan. 21, 2020.

• Own and live in a Kentucky home you also lived in during the pandemic hardship for which you are applying for assistance. Qualifying homes include a single-family house, condominium, townhome and manufactured home.

• You may not have more than one primary residence.

• Certain income guidelines apply. To calculate your income eligibility, enter your county and household size in this calculator. In Fayette County, the limit is $79,350 for one person, $90,600 for two, $102,000 for three, and $113,250 for a four-person household.

• You must work with an approved counselor to complete your application. Here’s where you can contact one.

• Verification of income is required, along with an assessment of your home and property.

• Provide state-issued photo ID.

The application and approval process could take 45 days or more, depending on the needs of the homeowners and the status of the completed application.

How can mortgage relief money be used in Kentucky?

The money will be paid directly to your mortgage servicer, county property tax administrator, utility company or homeowner’s association.

It can be used to cover the following expenses:

• Mortgage assistance for up to six months and/or mortgage reinstatement of past-due balance.

• One-time reinstatement of past due utility bills, including gas, electricity, water, heat and sewer. This is not emergency utility service. Application processing and review times vary. Here’s where you can find emergency help paying energy bills.

• One-time reinstatement of past due, non-escrowed homeowners and/or flood insurance costs.

• One-time reinstatement of past due, non-escrowed property tax bills.

• One-time reinstatement of past due homeowner’s association/condominium dues/liens.

Do you have a question about COVID-19 or COVID relief in Kentucky? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out the form below or email ask@herald-leader.com.

Meredith Howard is a service journalist with the Belleville News-Democrat. She is a Baylor University graduate and has previously freelanced with the Illinois Times and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.