At the peak of the pandemic, Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced tens of millions of dollars in relief for Chicago homeowners struggling to make house payments. Months later, that announcement feels nothing short of a PR-stunt. The application process was managed by NHS Chicago. They had created a section on their website and listed these eligibility criteria to apply for relief:
To qualify, at minimum, you must:
1) Reside within the Chicago city limits.
2) Provide a government issued ID.
3) For Homeowners seeking assistance: Demonstrate your total household income was at 120% or below the Area Median Income (AMI) prior to March 1, 2020. (Refer to the table below to determine your income eligibility.)
4)For Renters seeking assistance: Demonstrate your total household income was at 60% or below the Area Median Income (AMI) prior to March 1, 2020. (Refer to the table below to determine your income eligibility.)
5)Have experienced a change in your financial status (after March 1, 2020) due to the COVID-19 crisis.
6)Must be 18 years of age or over, or be a financially independent minor.
All this seemed fairly straightforward and led hundreds of thousands of people to filing application, many of whom unemployed as a direct result of the pandemic. Now, we all know that most low-income families and individuals have FHA-backed loans because many just can’t come up with the down-payment required during a home-purchase. The CARES Act enacted by the US government allowed for FHA-backed loans to apply for forbearance which is nothing but a deferment of your loan-term for a few months – if you are unable make payments. It does not “cancel” your loan nor does it provide any help with the loan itself.
Now, let’s discuss this “Chicago’s bait and switch” that I mentioned as the title of my article. As you have realized by now, many people applied for it. The website even provided a number to call and check the status of your application. Everything seemed to be fine and most Chicagoans believed it was a waiting game, and at some point in time, they would receive that happy email saying their application was approved.
A couple of months passed and people received no communication unless they needed to provide additional documentation. Folks who tried to call the number to check the status of their application had to leave a voicemail most of the time, and request a callback that most people never received. Those who called and were able to get a hold of a live-person were told something similar along these lines: “Everything looks fine, and you’d get an email soon!”
Last week the NHS started sending out application decision to hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom are still struggling, unemployed and facing severe financial hardship. Surprise, surprise…Chicago was able to come up with a “new eligibility” requirement and started sending out denial letters. The denial emails looked like this:
So, now if your mortgage was FHA-backed which most low-income families do, you will not see the relief. After months of waiting, struggling Chicagoans now have nothing, and are delivered a denial letter with a reason for their ineligibility. The odd part is that the reason given was not even mentioned in the initial application requirement. Sounds like a classic “bait and switch”, doesn’t it?
It is time for Mayor Lightfoot to explain when and why this new “eligilibilty requirement ” was introduced. Why this requirement was not mentioned on NHS website? What was her reason to discard FHA-backed loans?
These are valid questions. Hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans are now in a limbo!
Mayor Lightfoot must realize that citizens understand these “bait and switch” tactics very well. It’s OK to criticize political opponents, but it is not OK to deceive struggling Chicagoans. It is not OK to refuse financial help to people by coming up with requirements without making applicants aware of them. It is not OK to create deceitful public PR-stunts when millions of Chicagoans are struggling to put food on the table and make basic payments. Her actions amount to insult to hard-working Chicagoans whom she pretends to represent in the middle of a national emergency.
