Homeowner Assistance Fund Deadline: Unspent Money by State

Three states had spent less than half of their federal Homeowner Assistance Fund money by the end of March, six months before the program’s Sept. 30 deadline to commit what was left. South Dakota had spent 5.8% of its $50 million award, Tennessee 37.1% of $168.2 million and Wyoming 48.9% of $50 million, according to the U.S. Treasury’s quarterly report on the fund.

Every other state, and DC, had spent at least 69%. Together the 50 states and DC had spent 95.8% of $9.31 billion. Those three states held about $178 million of the $392 million the states hadn’t spent, close to half.

The Homeowner Assistance Fund, or HAF, was Congress’s 2021 pandemic program to help homeowners catch up on mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance and utilities. Each state designed and ran its own version.

What “spent” means here

Spent is what Treasury calls expended: money actually paid out on a homeowner’s behalf, plus the cost of running the program. Treasury caps that running cost at 15% of the award.

Committed is what Treasury calls obligated: money a state has promised through a contract or similar deal but may not have paid yet. Sept. 30 was the last day to commit new money, and states have until Jan. 28, 2027, to pay what they’ve committed. Under Treasury’s closeout rules, money not committed by Sept. 30, or committed and not paid by Jan. 28, goes back to Treasury.

The six states that had spent the smallest share of their awards, through March 31, 2026. Households helped is a running total since 2021. Source: U.S. Treasury, HAF Quarterly Compliance Data through Q1 2026.

Two states that reached the fewest people

South Dakota and Tennessee rank last on reach. South Dakota had helped 324 households, about 3.5 for every 10,000 residents, the lowest of any state. Tennessee had helped 2,985, about 4.1 per 10,000, the second lowest.

Tennessee. The Tennessee Housing Development Agency’s HAF page announces the program’s closure and says applications to catch up on a mortgage closed Aug. 6, 2023. Treasury’s numbers match a program that stopped: spending on homeowners has sat at $46.5 million since the report for the third quarter of 2025, and its count of households helped is still 2,985. I couldn’t find any public statement from Tennessee on how much it expects to send back.

South Dakota. Its plan filed with Treasury set up mortgage help as a zero-interest loan, repaid when the home is sold or refinanced, rather than a grant. The same plan put the share of South Dakota mortgages behind at 3.75% in early 2021, against 6.12% nationally, citing the Mortgage Bankers Association. Neither fact proves why so few people used it. Spending was still inching up through March, and I couldn’t confirm whether South Dakota was still taking applications before the deadline.

Wyoming is a different story. It helped about 37 households per 10,000 residents, more than all but five states. Wyoming’s program stopped taking new applications on Oct. 31, 2024, and its count of households helped has stayed at 2,200 since the report for the first quarter of 2025.

My guess is that a $50 million award, the smallest any state got, was more than Wyoming’s eligible requests. Wyoming hasn’t said so. The case against that guess: Wyoming denied 2,694 applications, more than the 2,200 it approved, so its rules may have mattered as much as demand.

What could change this

These figures stop at March 31, 2026. Treasury’s final reports, due from states by Jan. 28, 2027, will show what each state paid out. If these three report spending close to their full awards, the gap was timing, not leftover money.

What this means for homeowners

If you’re behind on your mortgage, HAF is no longer an option. Eighteen states had already filed final reports to close out their programs by July, and HAF programs can’t commit new money after Sept. 30, 2026 (Treasury). If your state’s program approved you before then, ask it about payments still being processed. The need hasn’t closed. More than one in nine FHA mortgages, 11.79%, was at least one payment behind in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (see the FHA mortgage delinquency rate).

If you’d like someone to go over your options with you, use our help form. The help that remains mostly comes through your loan itself: what help is left. HUD-approved housing counselors also help at no cost, at 800-569-4287 or through our directory.

Methods and sources

• Source. U.S. Treasury, HAF Quarterly Compliance Data through Q1 2026, released July 21, 2026. It covers activity through March 31, 2026, as reported to Treasury by July 8, 2026. It’s the newest file on Treasury’s HAF page.
• Share spent is total program expenditures plus total administrative expenditures, divided by the state’s total allocation, from the “Assistance by Participant” tab. Share committed uses the obligations columns the same way. Treasury doesn’t publish either combined share; we computed them.
• Households helped is Treasury’s “Homeowners Assisted,” a running count of unique households since each state’s 2021 award. It includes people helped only through housing counseling.
• Per 10,000 residents divides households helped by the Census Bureau’s 2025 state population estimate.
• We cover the 50 states and DC and leave out territories and tribal programs. Our state total matches Treasury’s own State/DC total in the same file.
• Deadlines and what happens to unspent money come from Treasury’s HAF Standard Closeout Checklist. Definitions come from Treasury’s HAF Quarterly Report User Guide.