Frequently Asked Questions

The federal government sets limits on the maximum loan amount for home loans. These limits are known as Conforming Loan Limits and have increased over time. To be eligible for PAHAF assistance, the U.S. Department of Treasury requires that a homeowner’s first mortgage is a conforming loan and meets the federal limits for the year in which the loan was taken. The federal loan limits by year are published here.

Please see our Am I Eligible page for more information.

Homeowner(s) must have an annualized current income of no more than the 150% of the area median income for a household, for the relevant household size, as published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(2) for purposes of the HAF, or 100% of the national median income ($90,000), whichever is greater. Because available funding may not be sufficient to meet the needs of all Pennsylvania homeowners, the PAHAF Program will serve homeowners with the most need first. Please see our Income Prioritization for PAHAF section of the Am I Eligible? page for additional information.

PAHAF will work with an applicant with non-traditional income, including self-attestation of income. Supporting documents such as paystubs, W-2s, 1040’s, 1099s and other wage statements may also be used. PAHAF will also accept employer attestations as a supporting document for income verification.

Because available funding may not be sufficient to meet the needs of all Pennsylvania homeowners, the PAHAF Program will serve homeowners with the most need first to meet the prioritization guidance as provided by the U.S. Treasury. Please see our Income Prioritization for PAHAF section of the Am I Eligible? page for additional information.

PAHAF reserves the right to serve applicants out of priority sequence to maintain efficiency in application processing. Such gains in efficiency benefit all applicants, as the nature of homeowner need is extremely time sensitive.

For the HAF Program, a socially disadvantaged individual is defined as someone whose ability to purchase or own a home has been impaired due to diminished access to credit on reasonable terms as compared to others in comparable economic circumstances, based on disparities in homeownership rates in the HAF participant’s jurisdiction as documented by the U.S. Census.

The diminished access to credit must stem from circumstances beyond their control. Indicators of impairment under the U.S. Treasury definition may include being a (1) member of a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society, (2) resident of a majority-minor Census tract; (3) individual with limited English proficiency; (4) resident of a U.S. territory, Indian reservation, or Hawaiian Home Loan, or (5) individual who lives in a persistent-poverty county, meaning any county that has had 20% or more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years as measured by the three most recent decennial censuses.

In addition, an individual may be determined to be socially disadvantaged individual in accordance with a process developed by HAF participant for determining whether a homeowner is a socially disadvantaged individual in accordance with applicable law, which may reasonably rely on self-attestations. For purposes of PAHAF, if the applicant or a member of the applicant’s household receives income because of a disability, the applicant and applicant’s household will be considered socially disadvantaged.