Local Congresswoman Proposes Mortgage Relief for Disaster Victims After LA Wildfires

Two California lawmakers — one of them Pasadena area U.S. Representative Judy Chu —  introduced legislation Thursday, April 17, that would provide mortgage relief to homeowners affected by federally declared disasters, following wildfires that destroyed 16,000 homes in Los Angeles.

Reps. Chu and Brad Sherman introduced the Mortgage Relief for Disaster Survivors Act, which would give homeowners in presidentially declared disaster areas who have federally backed mortgages up to 180 days of mortgage forbearance, with an option to extend for another 180 days.

The forbearance would accrue no interest, penalties or fees during the relief period.

While present law allows for significant variance across federal mortgage providers in relief offered, this legislation would standardize a baseline of mortgage relief for survivors of any federally declared disaster nationwide.

“Disaster survivors — like thousands of my constituents still reeling from the devastating Eaton Fire — should not have to worrying about missing a mortgage payment in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters,” Chu said. “Our legislation was drafted after countless conversations with constituents who reached out in the days after the fire worried about making their next mortgage payment.”

The bill is modeled after provisions in the bipartisan CARES Act signed by President Trump in 2020, which provided similar mortgage forbearance during the COVID-19 pandemic and received near unanimous support in both the House and Senate.

“The devastating January wildfires in Los Angeles caused widespread economic harm, and just as we acted with urgency and compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must now adapt the forbearance rules to meet the scale of this disaster,” Sherman said.

Reps. Chu and Sherman are joined as cosponsors by: Reps. Linda Sánchez, Laura Friedman, Cleo Fields, Jimmy Gomez, Lou Correa, Ayanna Pressley, Jill Tokuda, Shri Thanedar, Jared Huffman, Joe Neguse, and Sylvia Garcia.