$168M in Mortgage Relief Available to Indiana Homeowners

Learn how you might be able to get free money from the government through a COVID mortgage-relief program in Indiana.

By , Attorney · University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Update: The Indiana Homeowner Assistance Fund program discussed in this article is closed to new applications. Applications completed and submitted on or after October 21, 2023 aren't guaranteed to receive assistance. If you're facing a foreclosure, you might still have time to work out an alternative with your loan servicer. Contact your servicer to learn about options. If you have questions about the foreclosure process in Indiana or want to learn about potential defenses, consider also talking to a foreclosure lawyer.

In early 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. This law created a Homeowner Assistance Fund, a federal program, to give around $10 billion to the states to help households that are behind on their mortgages and other housing expenses due to COVID-19.

Eligible homeowners who've experienced a financial hardship because of COVID-19 can get some of the approximately $168 million allocated to the state—up to $35,000 per household—by applying to Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund program. This program uses federal money to help homeowners make mortgage payments and pay other escrowed home-related costs, like homeowners' association fees and property taxes.

What Housing Costs Does Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Cover?

Again, Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund program offers up to $35,000 per household. This money can go toward paying:

  • monthly mortgage payments (the program will pay your first mortgage payments and related expenses)
  • monthly mortgage payments plus loan reinstatement (if you're behind on mortgage payments, the program will pay to bring the loan current, followed by temporary monthly payments to cover your first mortgage payments or related expenses)
  • reinstatement only (if you're behind on mortgage payments, including if you're in a forbearance, but your monthly mortgage payment is otherwise affordable based on your current monthly household income, the program will provide assistance to bring your loan or related expenses current).

You can get up to six months of monthly mortgage payments under the monthly assistance program.

Program money can also pay homeowners' association fees, property owners' association fees, condo owners' association fees, county taxes, and homeowners' insurance.

Eligibility Requirements for Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

To qualify for relief from this program, you must have suffered a financial hardship (a material reduction in income or an increase in living expenses) after January 21, 2020, because of COVID-19. In addition, you have to meet some other guidelines:

  • The property must be located in Indiana, and you can't own any other mortgaged property.
  • Your household income must be at or below 150% of the area median income or 100% of the U.S. median income ($79,900), whichever is greater.
  • You must own and occupy the property as your primary residence. Second homes, investment properties, and vacant properties don't qualify. Single-family homes (attached or detached), condos, one- to four-unit properties if you're living in one as your primary residence, and manufactured housing permanently affixed to real property and taxed as such are eligible.

To find out if you're potentially eligible, take this prescreening quiz.

How Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Works

Payments from the program go directly to the loan servicer or other approved entity, not to homeowners.

Assistance is structured as a five-year, forgivable loan that a junior lien on the property secures. The first 20% is forgiven 12 months after the loan closes. The rest of the loan is forgiven in the amount of 20% each year. If you sell the property before the loan is fully forgiven, all net sale proceeds, up to the full outstanding principal balance at the time of sale, will become due and payable.

How to Apply for Assistance From Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

Apply online through the 877GetHope.org website. Contact the program administrator if you want to complete an application offline or need help with the online process (see below for contact information).

You'll have to provide some documentation with your application, like mortgage statements or statements for your other housing-related costs and proof of income, such as pay stubs and tax returns. Click here to get a list of the documents you'll need.

Avoid Homeowner Assistance Fund Scams

If you get an unsolicited offer by phone, in the U.S. mail, through email, or by text message offering mortgage relief or foreclosure rescue services, be wary. Scammers sometimes target homeowners who've been affected by COVID-19.

Homeowner Assistance Fund programs are free. If anyone asks you to pay a fee to get housing counseling or to receive foreclosure prevention services from this program, it's a scam.

Learn More About Indiana's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

If you have questions or need help with your application, call 877-GET-HOPE and review the program's FAQs, You may also get help from a HUD-approved housing counselor who will assist you at no cost. To find a counselor near you, go to HUD's website or call 800-569-4287.