City Launches New Housing Assistance Program

May 3, 2022 - San Antonio

**Housing assistance during hard times.** “The City’s Emergency Housing Assistance Program helped thousands of families remain in their homes throughout a historic health crisis,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a May 2 statement. *Photo: Facebook/San Antonio Housing Authority.*

By Jade Esteban Estrada, Co-Editor | San Antonio Sentinel

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The Neighborhood and Housing Services Department launched the new Housing Assistance Program this week to keep future housing stability services in place for low-income households in San Antonio

The program offers one-time financial assistance for households annually

Over the past two years, 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 applicants on March 1, 2022, to ensure that the total assistance requests wouldn’t exceed funds available. While intended as a temporary emergency program, the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department (NHSD) launched the new Housing Assistance Program this week to keep future housing stability services in place for low-income households within the city limits of San Antonio.

This is one-time financial assistance for households annually.

“The City’s EHAP helped thousands of families remain in their homes throughout a historic health crisis,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a May 2 statement. “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 both qualified renters and homeowners 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, which was 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 12-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 beginning May 9.

Applicants will be asked to provide information relating to their financial hardship during or due, directly or indirectly, to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Assistance will be administered directly to property management, mortgage lenders, and utility companies on behalf of the applicant, who must be the primary lease or mortgage holder.

To submit a Housing Assistance Program (HAP) online application, click here.

Jade Esteban Estrada is a co-editor for the San Antonio Sentinel where he covers public health and other citywide issues. jade@sasentinel.com | IG: @satxwriter