National Urban League and Wells Fargo Partner to Keep People Housed in Response to COVID-19
Civil rights organization is among the groups receiving grants to help more than 100,000 renters and homeowners stay in their homes
NEW YORK --The National Urban League has received funding to help people stay in their homes as part of the Wells Fargo Foundation’s $175 million commitment to assist people and communities in response to COVID-19. More than 300 grants have already been made since March to help nonprofits provide urgent housing services for vulnerable populations.
“Wells Fargo continues to take steps to support our customers, employees and communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Bill Daley, vice chairman of Public Affairs at Wells Fargo. “These grants for nonprofits across the U.S. will provide a critical safety net to help keep people housed and are part of our philanthropic focus to bring solutions to address housing security, small business stability, and consumer financial health.”
The COVID-19 relief grants from the Wells Fargo Foundation are intended to enable national nonprofit housing intermediaries, local housing counselors, and nonprofit housing providers to support housing stability for more than 100,000 renters and homeowners across the U.S. facing financial challenges.
“Safe, affordable housing is one of the key pillars of the National Urban League’s mission,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “We’re grateful to the Wells Fargo Foundation for their support during this challenging time, when so many are facing eviction or foreclosure. “
Strategies include expanding the capacity of housing counselors to respond to renters and homeowners as well as supporting nonprofits that provide affordable rental homes and services.
“Wells Fargo is committed to the importance of home for everyone in our nation,” said Eileen Fitzgerald, head of housing affordability philanthropy with the Wells Fargo Foundation. “Having a safe, healthy and affordable place to call home is essential to help lay the foundation for wellness, dignity and economic opportunity. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, as far too many people are facing housing instability, these grants will support hundreds of nonprofit professionals and their organizations whose missions are to keep people in their homes and create opportunities to have a home.”
The most recent COVID-19 housing grants will provide more than a dozen national nonprofit housing intermediaries with grant funding to support counseling and to help keep people in stable housing. In addition to the National Urban League Organizations include:
- Enterprise Community Partners
- GreenPath Financial Wellness
- HomeFree-USA
- Housing Partnership Network
- National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
- National Community Reinvestment Coalition
- National Foundation for Credit Counseling®
- Navicore Solutions
- NID Housing
- NeighborWorks® America
- Rural Community Assistance Corporation
- UnidosUS
- USA Homeownership Foundation DBA Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals
Wells Fargo continues to put measures in place to support the needs of homeowners impacted by COVID-19. The company has suspended all foreclosure activity and evictions for mortgage and home equity customers and is offering a three-month payment suspension for any Wells Fargo Home Lending mortgage or home equity customer who requests assistance. This includes customers with owner-occupied homes as well as investors who own single-family or 2-4 unit rental properties. Customers who contact Wells Fargo and obtain a payment suspension won’t have past-due status reported to the consumer reporting agencies and won’t be charged late fees during the suspension period.
In addition to supporting mortgage and home equity customers, Wells Fargo also has stopped involuntary automobile repossessions, and is offering fee waivers, payment deferrals and other expanded assistance for credit card, auto, small business, and personal lending customers who contact the company. Wells Fargo customers can learn more about assistance options available at www.wellsfargo.com/coronavirus.
From early March to early April, the company deferred payments and waived fees for more than 1.3 million consumer and small business customers. This included deferring more than 1 million payments for a total of approximately $3 billion in principal and interest.
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.98 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment, and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,400 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 31 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2019 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.