April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

ASSISTANCE LISTING 21.026 HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE FUND PROGRAM 

I. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES 

The Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) program provides $9.961 billion for the US 

Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) to make payments to states (defined to include the 

District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and 

American Samoa), Indian tribes or their tribally designated housing entities, and the Department 

of Hawaiian Home Lands (collectively the “eligible entities” or “HAF Participants”) to mitigate 

financial hardships associated with the coronavirus pandemic, including for the purpose of 

preventing homeowner mortgage delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, loss of utilities or home 

energy services, and displacements of homeowners experiencing financial hardship after January 

21, 2020, through qualified expenses related to mortgages and housing. 

II. PROGRAM PROCEDURES 

A. Overview 

Section 3206 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Act”), Pub. L. No. 117-2 

(March 11, 2021) established the HAF program and provides $9.961 billion for Treasury 

to make payments to the eligible entities to provide the assistance to homeowners for 

qualified expenses related to mortgages and housing as described in section 3201(c)(1) of 

the Act and Treasury’s HAF Guidance. 

Pursuant to section 3206(c)(2) of the Act, at least 60 percent of the HAF participant’s 

award funds must be used to provide assistance with mortgage payments, homeowner’s 

insurance, utility payments, and other qualified expenses related to mortgages and 

housing to eligible homeowners within a certain target income. The law requires HAF 

participants to prioritize the remaining award funds to provide assistance to “socially 

disadvantaged individuals” (see also the section on “Targeting” in the HAF Guidance). 

Section 3206(d) of the Act prescribes that the HAF funding must be allocated as follows: 

1. $30 million for the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and 

American Samoa (US territories); 

2. $498 million for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) and Indian 

tribes or their tribally designated housing entities; and 

3. the remainder for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Each 

state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico will receive a minimum payment 

of $50 million. Amounts that will be paid to states, the District of Columbia, and 

Puerto Rico are based on homeowner need as it relates to unemployment and 

mortgage delinquencies or mortgage foreclosures in those jurisdictions. 

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April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

Amounts paid to US territories are based on share of population, and amounts paid to 

tribal entities are based on a formula under section 3206(f) of the Act. 

Source of Governing Requirements 

• Section 3206 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2 (March 11, 

2021) and codified as 15 USC 9058d. 

• As implemented by Treasury’s HAF guidance available on Treasury.gov, including 

important version changes over time that can be found on the site. 

Availability of Other Program Information 

General information for the HAF program is available through the program website at 

www.treasury.gov/HAF. Information includes the following documents: 

• HAF Guidance 

• HAF Interim Reporting Guidance 

• HAF Reporting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

• Data and Methodology for State and Territory Allocations 

III. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS 

In developing the audit procedures to test compliance with the requirements for this federal 

program, the auditor must determine, from the following summary (also included in Part 2, 

“Matrix of Compliance Requirements”), which of the 12 types of compliance requirements have 

been identified as subject to the audit (noted with a “Y” in the summary matrix below), and then 

determine which of the compliance requirements that are subject to the audit are likely to have a 

direct and material effect on the federal program at the auditee. For each such compliance 

requirement subject to the audit, the auditor must use Part 3 (which includes generic details about 

each compliance requirement other than Special Tests and Provisions) and this program 

supplement (which includes any program-specific requirements) to perform the audit. When a 

compliance requirement is shown in the summary below as “N,” it has been identified as not 

being subject to the audit. Auditors are not expected to test requirements that have been noted 

with an “N.” See the Safe Harbor Status discussion in Part 1 for additional information. 

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April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

A B C E F G H I J L M N 

ActivitiesAllowed orUnallowedAllowableCosts/CostPrinciplesCashManagementEligibilityEquipment/Real PropertyManagementMatching,Level of Effort,EarmarkingPeriodOfPerformanceProcurementSuspension &DebarmentProgramIncomeReportingSubrecipientMonitoringSpecialTests andProvisions 

Y Y Y Y N N N N N Y Y N 

A. Activities Allowed or Unallowed 

HAF participants may use their HAF award funds for qualified expenses related to 

mortgages and housing, including for the purpose of preventing homeowner mortgage 

delinquencies, homeowner mortgage defaults, homeowner mortgage foreclosures, 

homeowner loss of utilities or home energy services, and displacements of homeowners 

experiencing financial hardship after January 21, 2020. Please see the HAF Guidance for 

the full list of qualified expenses. 

B. Allowable Cost/ Cost Principles 

HAF funds are considered “other financial assistance” per 2 CFR 200.1 and are 

administered by Treasury as direct payments for specified use. Refer to 2 CFR Part 200, 

Subpart E regarding the Cost Principles that apply to the use of funds under this program. 

Allowable Costs under the HAF program include the following: 

1. mortgage payment assistance; 

2. financial assistance to allow a homeowner to reinstate a mortgage or to pay other 

housing-related costs related to a period of forbearance, delinquency, or default; 

3. mortgage principal reduction, including with respect to a second mortgage 

provided by a nonprofit or government entity; 

4. facilitating mortgage interest rate reductions; 

5. payment assistance for: (a) homeowner’s utilities, including electric, gas, home 

energy, and water; (b) homeowner’s internet service, including broadband internet 

access service, as defined in 47 CFR 8.1(b) (or any successor regulation); (c) 

homeowner’s insurance, flood insurance, and mortgage insurance; (d) 

homeowner’s association fees or liens, condominium association fees, or common 

charges; and (e) down payment assistance loans provided by nonprofit or 

government entities; 

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April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

6. payment assistance for delinquent property taxes to prevent homeowner tax 

foreclosures; 

7. measures to prevent homeowner displacement, such as home repairs to maintain 

the habitability of a home or assistance to enable households to receive clear title 

to their properties; 

8. counseling or educational efforts by housing counseling agencies approved by 

HUD, tribal government (including such efforts by in-house housing counselors 

who are HUD certified or tribally approved), or legal services, targeted to 

households eligible to be served with funding from the HAF related to foreclosure 

prevention or displacement, in an aggregate amount up to 5 percent of the funding 

from the HAF received by the HAF participant; 

9. reimbursement of funds expended by a state, local government, or applicable 

tribal entity during the period beginning on January 21, 2020, and ending on the 

date that the first funds are disbursed by the HAF participant under the HAF, for a 

qualified expense (other than any qualified expense paid directly or indirectly by 

another federal funding source, or any qualified expenses described in clauses (6), 

(7), (8), or (10) of this definition); 

10. planning, community engagement, needs assessment, and administrative expenses 

related to the HAF participant’s disbursement of HAF funds for qualified 

expenses, in an aggregate amount not to exceed 15 percent of the funding from 

the HAF received by the HAF participant; and 

11. payment of lot rent for a manufactured home, where such payment would 

promote housing stability and prevent the default of the resident of the 

manufactured home. 

Please see the HAF Guidance on the HAF program page on Treasury.gov for the latest 

guidance regarding the eligible uses of HAF funds. 

C. Cash Management 

See Part 3, Section C, “Cash Management” for a general description of the compliance 

requirements, the related audit objectives, and suggested audit procedures. 

E. Eligibility 

Treasury expects auditors to test the eligibility of homeowners to receive HAF assistance 

and to focus on whether HAF participants established and adhered to reasonable policies 

and procedures for evaluating homeowners’ applications in accordance with the HAF 

Guidance which permits HAF participants to reasonably rely on self-attestation. 

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April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

Testing of individual homeowner eligibility-related documentation should be limited to 

material already collected by the HAF participant in the application as much as possible 

to avoid imposing undue burden on homeowners that are experiencing financial 

hardships. 

The HAF Guidance documents the full eligibility considerations for HAF participants to 

extend financial assistance to vulnerable populations without imposing undue 

documentation burdens. HAF participants must require all applications for assistance to 

include an attestation from the applicant homeowner that all information included is 

correct and complete. In addition, HAF participants are expected to have policies and 

procedures to determine homeowner eligibility in the following three criteria: 

Financial Hardship: HAF participants may rely on homeowners' attestations that they 

experienced financial hardship after January 21, 2020 (including a hardship that began 

before January 21, 2020 but continued after that date). The attestation must describe the 

nature of the financial hardship (for example, job loss, reduction in income, or increased 

costs due to healthcare or the need to care for a family member). 

Income: HAF participants may take one of two approaches to income verification: (1) 

the homeowner may provide a written attestation as to household income together with 

supporting documentation such as paystubs, W2s or other wage statements, IRS Form 

1099s, tax filings, depository institution statements demonstrating regular income, or an 

attestation from an employer; or (2) the homeowner may provide a written attestation as 

to household income and the HAF participant may use a reasonable fact-specific proxy 

for household income, such as reliance on data regarding average incomes in the 

household’s geographic area. To be eligible for HAF assistance, the homeowner must 

have income equal to or less than 150 percent of the area median income or 100 percent 

of the median income for the United States, whichever is greater. 

For additional information, please see Treasury’s HAF Guidance at: 

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAF-Guidance.pdf 

L. Reporting 

1. Financial Reporting 

a. SF-270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement – Not Applicable 

b. SF-271, Outlay Report and Request for Reimbursement for Construction 

Programs – Not Applicable 

c. SF-425, Federal Financial Report – Not applicable 

2. Performance Reporting 

Not Applicable 

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3. Special Reporting 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2022 Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Treasury 

• Interim Reports (1505-0269): State, and territorial HAF participants that 

received HAF awards are required to submit a one-time Interim Report. 

Treasury is requiring these HAF participants to submit this one-time 

Interim Report covers the reporting period beginning on the date of 

issuance of the HAF award and ending on January 31, 2022. HAF 

participants must submit the Interim Report via Treasury’s portal in 

calendar by March 4, 2022. HAF participants may download copies of 

their Interim Reports for evaluation by auditors. 

The key line items in the report include the following: 

a. Number of unique Homeowners that received HAF assistance and 

subset (s) that are classified as Socially Disadvantaged and 100 

percent Area Median Income (AMI) or less. 

b. Homeowners that received HAF assistance disaggregated by 

Program Design Element. 

f. Amount of assistance provided to Homeowners disaggregated by 

Program Design Element. 

• Quarterly Reporting (1505-0269): Treasury will begin receiving HAF 

Quarterly Reports following the first quarter of calendar year 2022. HAF 

Reporting Guidance can be accessed on the HAF website. 

4. Special Reporting for Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act 

See Part 3 of the 2022 OMB Compliance Supplement for audit guidance. 

M. Subrecipient Monitoring 

All HAF participants and their subrecipients must be registered in SAM.gov. HAF 

participants must monitor and manage their subrecipients in accordance with 2 CFR 

200.332 to ensure their subrecipients are administering the subawards in compliance with 

the terms and conditions of the subawards. 

IV. OTHER INFORMATION 

If there are specific questions regarding the HAF program, the Office of Recovery Programs may 

be contacted by e-mail at HAF@Treasury.gov. 

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