A year of mortgage relief for firestorm victims

Newsom signs a bill that bars foreclosure proceedings and takes effect immediately.

- LAURENCE DARMIENTO

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times ERIN FOLEY walks amid the rubble of her destroyed home in Altadena in April.

Legislation that allows victims of the Jan. 7 firestorms to receive up to a year of mortgage relief was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as an urgency measure that takes effect immediately.

Assembly Bill 238 enables borrowers to put a stop to their mortgage payments for up to 12 months with no late fees or penalties, by attesting without documentation that the fires caused a financial hardship.

The relief is extended in 90-day increments that can be extended at the property owner’s request. The law prohibits mortgage servicers from initiating a foreclosure or executing a foreclosure judgment or sale.

“Homeowners rebuilding after a disaster need all the support they can get, including grace in light of this incredible hardship,” Newsom said in a statement after signing the legislation this week. “I look forward to additional conversations with lenders in the coming months about how we can continue to support survivors together.”

The bill, cosponsored by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), whose districts include the Eaton and Palisades fire zones, respectively, provides more generous relief than a voluntary forbearance program Newsom and Harabedian put together in January.

That program provides for 90 days of relief from payments, without accruing late fees or damage to credit scores.