The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners approved the CARES Mortgage Assistance Program on May 15, 2020, to accelerate assistance to eligible homeowners whose households have suffered a loss of income due to COVID-19. This $20 million allocation for the Mortgage Assistance Program uses a portion of the county’s $261 million allocation from the federal CARES Act approved by Congress. Funds are awarded as a grant.
Round 2 of CARES Mortgage Assistance will provide up to 6 months of assistance (not to exceed $10,000), to income eligible households that are at least one month delinquent (after February 29, 2020) in home mortgage, escrow payments (PITI), and/or condominium and homeowners’ association dues. Payments can only be provided through December 2020.
All requests for assistance will be reviewed and underwritten based on approved criteria. To qualify, homeowners must demonstrate that the costs are directly tied to COVID-19. Additional criteria include but are not limited to income eligibility, residence must be owner occupied, property must be in Palm Beach County, and the assessed value cannot exceed $331,888.
All applications must be submitted online and will be processed on a first-come, first-eligible basis.
The online application is expected to launch on Friday, October 9th at 8AM and can be accessed at the Department of Housing and Economic Sustainability’s website: PBCGov.com/hes.
A description of the program in English, Creole and Spanish is available at PBCGov.com/hes.