The federal government signed into law a measure to refund the Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program (Section 148) to take effect immediately.

Previously, HousingWire reported that the department of Housing and Urban Development sent a letter to mortgage broker’s associations halting mortgage originations due to a lack of funding from sequestration.

However, with the new law, the approved budget includes more than $12.2 million for the program and funds it through September 30, 2013, according to a report from HUD.

“We anticipated that the program was going to get funded, however we were very pleased that in these tough budgetary times that the Section 184 program had its Congressional appropriation doubled from $6 million to $12.2 million,” Donna White, a spokesperson for HUD said.  

Additionally, the new program will start accepting applications and begin issuing loan approvals no later than April 15.

The loan guarantee program is designed for American Indian and Alaska Native Americas, tribes Alaska Villages or tribally designated housing entities.

White added, “With this amount of funding, the Section 184 program expects to assist as many as 3,500 families with the purchase or refinance of a house between now and September 30, 2013.”