HIF’s Emergency Housing Fund offers a lifeline after unforeseen and temporary financial setbacks, acting as a bridge between crisis and stability. An unstable housing situation can arise from any number of unexpected circumstances, such as medical bills, job loss, or COVID-19 related circumstances.
Community members threatened by homelessness and interested in applying for an emergency grant, will be required to demonstrate need and ability to utilize our emergency housing grants for sustained stability up to $2,500.
Requests must meet the following criteria:
- Currently living in San Mateo or Santa Clara County.
- Demonstrate a need due to unforeseen circumstances.
- Complete the online application with all of the requested information, signatures and the requested documents attached.
- Requested funding can only be processed to the landlord/property management or utility company. HIF does not pay the funds directly to applicant.
Applications will be prioritized for approval based on the following:
- Past due rent
- Rent due date
- Household size/composition
- Household Budget must demonstrate that HIF is used as a “last resort” when all funding sources have been exhausted (including current earned & unearned income, savings, family support, etc.)
- For individual and privately owned properties: Due to the increased volume of fraud attempts and the lack of County resources to verify this information, HIF will be restricting funding to these types of applications.
- Applications where landlords are able to provide documents verifying property ownership will be considered on a case by case basis
Approval of applications and timelines for processing cannot be guaranteed. Email inquiries are accepted only at info@hifinfo.org
Stories From Our Community
Olga’s Story
The communities that HIF serves have been struggling with financial hardship due to the Covid-19 virus and the Shelter in Place order. We are mobilizing to support at least an additional 200 households remained housed during this crisis (up to 500 families for 2020). Olga and Maksym are fencing coaches at schools in the Bay [...]
Erika’s Story
Nowadays, many people find themselves commuting 2 to 4 hours each day to work and back. This causes a lot of distress, especially if you are a teacher. Your day does not end once the students leave home—it begins. Getting lessons ready for the next day, grading assignments or parent-teacher conferences can be very draining, [...]
Paula-Navarro Family
At HIF, our mission is to help individuals and families remain in or return to stable housing through our Homeless Prevention Programs including emergency assistance grants, shelter renovations and affordable housing initiatives. While we are facing the COVID-19 crisis and everyone is losing their jobs due to the shelter in place order, we initiated the [...]