City Launches New Housing Assistance Program (HAP)

CONTACT: Elizabeth Mercado, 210-207-5414
[email protected]

SAN ANTONIO (May 2, 2022) -Over the past two years, the award-wining Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) has provided over $200 million in rental, mortgage, and utilities assistance to nearly 64,000 applicants to date. The EHAP portal closed to new applications on March 1, 2022, to ensure total assistance requests did not exceed funds available. While EHAP was intended as a temporary emergency program, the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department (NHSD) launched the new Housing Assistance Program (HAP) this week to keep future housing stability services in place for low-income households in San Antonio. "The City's EHAP helped thousands of families remain in their homes throughout a historic health crisis," Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. "The success of the program rested on the foundation established by the Mayor's Housing Policy Task Force in 2018, and I am proud that a long-term program will take its place to ensure compassionate assistance to residents experiencing unexpected hardships."

The new Housing Assistance Program (HAP), based on the Risk Mitigation Policy, aims to assist qualified renters and homeowners alike going through financial hardships to keep individuals and families housed and prevent those situations from worsening and leading to future displacement. Preventing, mitigating, and minimizing displacement is central to the Risk Mitigation Policy adopted by City Council in 2019. Qualified households can be eligible to receive up to three consecutive months of financial housing assistance, with a maximum of $3,500 for rent or mortgage expenses and up to $1,500 for utilities within a twelve-month period. NHSD continues to offer relocation assistance to low-income households at risk of experiencing displacement through paper applications and will start accepting online applications May 9th. To submit your Housing Assistance
Program (HAP) online application, visit: https://dhs.mendixcloud.com/p/Kinetech/GovTech/HousingAssistance.

Important HAP Applicant Information:

• This program is for households within the city limits of San Antonio.
• You'll be asked to provide information related to your financial hardship during or due, directly or indirectly, to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Assistance will be administered directly to property management, mortgage lenders and utility companies (CPS, SAWS, internet provider) on behalf of the applicant.
• This is one-time financial assistance for households annually.
• Applicant must be the primary lease or mortgage holder.

Your household must be income qualified as determined by the funding source requirements.

Author: Melanie Morales (C&E)

Categories: City News, Neighborhood & Housing Services News

Tags: