DENVER — The Colorado Homeownership Coalition may be able to provide a grant of up to $6,000 in mortgage money for property owners who need extra help because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s a one-time grant, and you have no obligation to repay the money.
The bar for qualifying for the process is not that high for people who are in trouble, according to Peter Lansing, the president of Universal Lending and a board member for the Colorado Homeownership Coalition.
"These are the people who are about ready to lose their homes,” Lansing said. “And if you are ready to lose your home, our guidelines have to be very lenient so we can help you save your home.”
The process for applying for a grant is fairly simple. The first step is an “intake” of your information, which involves meeting with a housing counseling agency that helps to pull together all the details for your loans and our current financial situation.
The second step is the "submission" of that application for consideration by your housing counselor.
The third step is "underwriting.” At this point in the process, an applicant review committee looks over your application and responds with an approval or denial.
Remarkably, the process only takes around two weeks.
The final step, if you meet the guidelines, is the approval itself, where the funds are transferred to parties holding your loans.
"Our whole aspiration is to help people that have had issues and are about ready to lose their home,” Lansing said. “This way, they can come into our housing counseling area, we can chat with them and we can hopefully save them from losing their home.”
The coalition is particularly looking to help people who have encountered a catastrophic event in addition to the hardships created by the coronavirus. Lansing said this could help those who have had unexpected medical bills or the death of the head of a household.
If you have a federally-backed mortgage, the first option is to call your loan servicer, Lansing said. There are other options with a loan from an agency that has government backing such as Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, but otherwise, the Colorado Homeownership Coalition may be able to help.
Head to https://www.chchelps.org/ to learn more, and click on “get help” for the application process.
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