According to Officials from Oregon Housing and Community Services, funds are still available to help homeowners recover from the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. But time is running out.
The Homeowner Assistance and Reconstruction Program, or HARP, is open until the end of the year, but it’s a lengthy process, and applicants should start soon.
Neil Barrett, the external affairs officer for disaster recovery and resilience with Oregon Housing and Community Services, said the funds can help Labor Day fire survivors repair, rebuild, or buy a new home. Reimbursement for recovery-related expenses was recently added.
“I think a lot of the people on the reimbursement track may have been sort of sitting on the sidelines wanting other people who they felt needed more support and more needs to sort of let them get to the front of the line," Barrett told KLCC. "At this point, we're in a situation where we want anybody that was affected that was a homeowner to engage with the program.”
Barrett said it starts with a simple Eligibility Questionnaire, but the full application requires many supporting documents.
Several HARP outreach centers are available to assist with the application, including one in Springfield and one in Glide.
The HARP program is funded by a $422 million Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
