New Jersey’s Emergency Rescue Mortgage Assistance (ERMA) program has funds for eligible homeowners who have experienced a significant decrease of income or increase of expenses due to COVID-19 and have as a result fallen behind on their mortgage payments.

Funds are available up to $35,000 per household to cover:

• Mortgage reinstatement assistance
• Other eligible housing related costs, including:
• Escrow shortages
• Delinquent property taxes
• Municipal or tax liens
• Up to four future mortgage payments, inclusive of principal, interest, taxes and homeowner’s insurance

If eligible, you could receive up to $35,000 in the form of a three-year forgivable loan, with no interest or payments due. If the property is sold, transferred, or refinanced (except for refinances for a lower rate and/or shorter term) or you do not maintain the property as your primary residence during the three (3) year term of the mortgage and note, you must repay the ERMA Program funds.

Application for funds is available here https://www.njerma.com

You can also email the ERMA team at HAFServicing@njhmfa.gov or call us at (855) 647-7700 between the hours of 8am and 5pm Monday through Friday.

The Princeton based Rita Allen Foundation financed a study on covid misinformation on social media and how it impacts specific communities. The combined research is meant to provide insight to journalists, researchers and people in public health who want to understand and potentially act on problematic vaccine narratives as they relate to Hispanic people in the US. Perth Amboy is looking into developing its own Health Department, and this department could use this study to help strengthen our COVID response.

The study, A Limiting Lens: How Vaccine Misinformation Has Influenced Hispanic Conversations Online, has shown that anti vaccination narratives concerning alleged “alternative treatments” were found to be among the most influential vaccine misinformation in Spanish-language online spaces. Narratives concerning the safety of Covid-19 vaccines were among the most widespread and impactful misinformation on social media. Additionally, satirical and sarcastic posts featured heavily in vaccine-related Spanish-language conversations on social media. Mocking the vaccine information to discredit it has been common.

If you look anywhere online in Perth Amboy circles, you can see these types of comments under both English and Spanish posts about getting the vaccine. Confronting this misinformation can help save lives in Perth Amboy. Hispanic people face a greater risk of catching and dying from COVID in the US. Spreading misinformation about the vaccine can impact others belief systems and may result in them not getting vaccinated based on the misinformation.

An action step to stop the spread of misinformation on covid vaccines on social media is to delete the comments or posts that contain any of the false narratives listed above. Local, county, state and city health posts could have comments disabled under health information so as to stop the spread of false vaccine information. A local health department could help to develop a strategy to increase the vaccination rate by addressing misinformation about the vaccine and help protect the community.

Perth Amboy has been hard hit by COVID. The number of cases and deaths from COVID in Perth Amboy is in line with communities triple our size. Members of the Middlesex County community health team have been assigned to go door to door in Perth Amboy to help residents get vaccine information and other information about programs to help with hardships from COVID, like rental assistance.

The Middlesex County Community Health Team will be going door-to-door daily in Perth Amboy from 1 pm to 6 pm.  Members of this team will always wear masks and observe appropriate social distancing protocols while engaging residents. The community health team members will be credentialed with identification badges as the “Middlesex Community Health Team” and will be wearing bright neon safety vests while they are working in the community.  They will be providing information about COVID Testing, Vaccines and Boosters, Telehealth and connecting with physicians, emergency rental assistance, food assistance, and more.