Nursing homes, assisted living communities, and centers for individuals with ID/DD are facing unprecedented challenges trying to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is putting additional strain on their operations and bottom-line cash flow. Long term care (LTC) employees are on the frontline of this crisis, making personal sacrifices and voluntarily placing themselves in harm’s way to protect and provide quality care for someone’s mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, family member, or friend who is unable to live on their own and relies on the assistance of others. To assist our senior housing and LTC facilities across the country, AHCA/NCAL asked Congress and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support a provision in the stimulus package that the President recently signed into law that permits HUD to finance up to one year of operating losses for certain hospital and residential care facilities insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) under Sections 232 and 242 of the National Housing Act. The Association asked for this proposed relief so providers can continue to focus their full attention on ensuring the residents and staff of their buildings remain safe from COVID-19.
Specifically, this stimulus bill provision allows existing participants in the Section 232 program to borrow funds under FHA 223(d) to cover losses or additional expenses as a result of COVID-19. Loan proceeds can cover up to a year of principal and interest payments for the underlying FHA loan, mortgage insurance premiums, deposits to reserve accounts, as well as property taxes and insurance. Facilities must have been financially sound prior to March 13, 2020 and have exhausted all other forms of assistance in order to qualify.
For those providers that are interested, please contact your FHA lender as the mortgagee will make an application on behalf of the facility/borrower. More information on FHA can be found
here.