Neighbor to Neighbor, the nonprofit organization that manages distribution of rental aid to households in Fort Collins and Loveland, has been selected as one of four state agencies to pilot a program to provide aid to homeowners whose ability to pay their mortgages was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (EMAP) will disburse the initial 10% of the state’s allocation of the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF). Overall, EMAP program has $17.5 million available to disburse to eligible applicants in Colorado by Sept. 30, 2025.
“When we help families stay in their homes, the ripple effect of a stable home goes on and on,” Neighbor to Neighbor executive director Kelly Evans wrote in a statement. “We find that kids do better in school, family relationships and overall health improve, and employment outcomes are better. These lasting impacts benefit not just one family, but the community as a whole.”
The other three organizations participating in the pilot program include Brothers Redevelopment, a Denver-based housing nonprofit, Total Concept, based out of Fowler which serves Bent, Crowley, and Otero counties, and La Puente Home, Inc., a nonprofit that serves Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
The four agencies will provide help for families across the state, but local partnerships will make it easier to offer aid to households in Neighbor to Neighbor’s typical service area in Larimer County.
The EMAP application process opened in November, according to a press release from Neighbor to Neighbor. Homeowners are eligible to receive funding if they experienced a financial hardship after Jan. 21, 2020 or had a financial hardship that began before Jan. 21, 2020 and continued after that date. Eligible households must have an income equal to less than 100% of the area median income for this initial allocation. These funds may be used only for the homeowner’s primary dwelling and approved funds are paid directly to the homeowner’s mortgage servicer, according to the press release.
Help for mortgage payments is a rarer find than rental aid, according to Alea Rodriguez, program director for Neighbor to Neighbor, because unlike rent assistance, financial assistance with mortgages helps recipients build equity. Still, she said that especially in light of the pandemic, its a program that’s needed.
“In the housing counseling world and in assistance programs, you don’t see it,” Rodriguez said. “You don’t see programs to assist homeowners. It’s exciting to be at the forefront of something new and something needed.”
She added that it was exciting to be chosen as one of only four agencies across the state, and said that it showed how effective Neighbor to Neighbor is at disbursing aid.
“It’s definitely an honor to be seen at that state level as an organization that knows what they’re doing, as an organization that has efficiently distributed COVID relief to our community,” Rodgriuez said. “They’re wanting us to share that expertise and efficiency statewide, which we’re more than happy to do so that we can help more people, more Coloradans stay housed.”
