Victims of the Los Angeles County wildfires can get cash for up to three months of mortgage payments under a new program unveiled Thursday by state and local leaders in Altadena. 

Under California Housing Finance Agency’s new $105 million mortgage assistance program, qualifying residents can get grants for up to $20,000.

“You don’t have to pay this money back. It’s a grant,” said Rebecca Franklin, chief deputy director of the California Housing Finance Agency, or CalHFA.

The grants will be available to residents whose homes have been destroyed or left uninhabitable by the recent fires or by any other disaster that received a state or federal emergency declaration since January 2023.

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That includes victims of Southern California’s Line, Bridge and Freeway fires last September, Ventura County’s Mountain fire in November and Malibu’s Franklin fire in December. 

Kathryn Barger, who chairs the Los Angeles County board of supervisors, called the assistance program “a beacon of hope” for displaced residents.

“The new mortgage grant program will bring much needed support to Altadena homeowners who are facing an immense financial strain,” said Barger who represents Altadena. “Altadena residents want to remain and rebuild in this community, but the financial press is real and growing for many.”

The application period will begin June 12.

To apply, residents must go to www.CalAssistMortgageFund.org and click “apply now.” Assistance also is available by calling 1-800-501-0019.

The grants will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and the funding likely won’t go far.

Assuming an average mortgage payment of $4,000 a month per applicant, there’s only enough cash to serve 8,750 Californians.

“$100 million will go like hotcakes because it’s statewide,” said Lori Gay, chief executive of Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County.

Displaced victims of 2023 winter storms, Tropical Storm Hillary and five other California wildfires also qualify.

Still, Barger said, the mortgage relief “will be a lifeline” for those who receive it, even though five months have passed since a wind-driven firestorm devoured entire neighborhoods.

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The fires destroyed 11,265 homes in the Pacific Palisades-Malibu areas and in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre, according to the Los Angeles County’s Assessor’s office.

Victims “still feel the instability that accompanies the loss of their home and the trauma of surviving this wildfire,” Barger said. “When you meet with seniors who have lost everything and you realize that the rebuild effort for them is not as simple as a mortgage, it breaks your heart.”

To qualify, residents must earn no more than the median income in their counties — $140,700 a year in Los Angeles County, $137,150 a year in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and $180,300 in Orange County, according to the CalHFA website.

The grant program will be paired with an additional $25 million for mortgage counseling.

None of the funds will affect the state’s proposed 2025-26 budget, a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said.

Newsom first proposed the mortgage relief program several months ago, said Tomiquia Moss, the Secretary of the state’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency.

Moss noted that climate change has increased the need for disaster assistance programs like this one.

“Communities all around the country are experiencing the effects of climate change, including … atmospheric rivers, catastrophic flooding and devastating wildfires,” Moss said at Thursday’s news conference.

The mortgage grants will give some victims “a little more breathing room” as they rebuild their lives, she said.

“People are desperate,” Gay added. “So, this is the right stuff today. … This grant helps people stay a little longer, find hope in another space and return to home effectively.”