New Jersey expands key Sandy program

No mortgage, no problem.

Homeowners in New Jersey's primary superstorm Sandy rebuilding program are no longer required to have a mortgage in order to qualify for rental assistance, according to an announcement from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs on Tuesday.

The expansion of the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) follows the news a few weeks ago that several recovery programs, including RAP, were being extended for two years. RAP provides up to $1,300 a month to help families in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program — and it's sister program exclusively for lower-income homeowners — pay the rent while their home is being rebuilt or elevated.

The state says that the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency will be contacting applicants who were previously denied access to RAP because of the mortgage requirement. These once-rejected homeowners will be required submit updated documentation to become eligible.

About 80 applicants were deemed ineligible under the initial rules, according to DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan. That doesn't mean that all 80 will now qualify and that figure doesn't include any RREM homeowner without a mortgage who was deterred from applying in the first place.

The state was particularly concerned with homeowners who had to pay both a mortgage and rent on a temporary home, but the extension and a $10-million infusion of disaster funds into the RAP allows New Jersey "to reach more populations that may need assistance," she said.

"For example, seniors who don’t have a mortgage, but who are on a fixed income and are now paying rent in addition to property taxes and insurance are now eligible for RAP assistance under the expanded guidelines," Ryan said in a statement to the Asbury Park Press.

RAP was announced in February as a kind of successor to the Sandy Homeowner & Renter Assistance Program (SHRAP), which itself followed the emergency rental assistance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A maximum of nine months of assistance is available through RAP. It's not retroactive, meaning the money can not be used to reimburse for rent paid in the past.

The program application form is available at www.njhousing.gov/homeownership/owners/ssbg, or by calling 1-800-NJHOUSE. A total of $19.5 million has been set aside and will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.