Treasury Awards Second Round of Hardest Hit Housing Funds

 

Treasury Department has announced the second round of awards under its 4HM or Help for the Hardest-Hit Housing Market Fund established by President Obama in February.
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The five states, all suffering high levels of unemployment coupled with significant declines in home values are:  North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina. The states will share in $600 million in grants to State Housing Finance Agencies with programs designed to prevent foreclosure. The states estimate they can assist about 50,000 struggling homeowners with the grants.   

In June, first round awards totaling $1.5 billion were made to five states, Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. The program is targeted to states with high unemployment and where a high percent of the population is living in areas of economic distress due to unemployment and housing prices have declined at least 20 percent from their peak. 

The most recent proposals include programs targeted at expanding options for homeowners struggling to meet mortgage payments and programs addressing first and second liens, short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. Keeping people in their homes will help the economy and give landscape professionals more opportunities.

“These states have designed targeted programs with the potential to make a real difference in the lives of homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments because of unemployment,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Herb Allison. “While the Obama Administration has already taken critical action to strengthen the housing market and create jobs, we are committed to doing everything we can to immediately help those who are hurting the most during these tough times.”

- Courtesy of Mortgage News Daily