Five States to Get Foreclosure Prevention Aid

Reuters
August 4, 2010
Daly, Corbett B.

As many as 50,000 distressed homeowners in five states with jobless rates above 12 percent -- Ohio, the Carolinas, Oregon, and Rhode Island -- may soon receive help from the "Hardest Hit Fund" set up to avert some foreclosures. The Treasury's Herb Allison confirms that state housing agencies can tap the $600 million federal fund for foreclosure mitigation, which was announced in March. Each of the states has since had its proposal approved and is now eligible to begin receiving aid. Some of the programs target jobless or under-employed homeowners, with a goal of helping them remain current on their mortgage; while others will reach out to "underwater" borrowers by lowering their loan principal, and yet others will facilitate short sales as a means of avoiding foreclosure. "We think what we are doing is making homeownership more affordable for people who are struggling," Allison says. "We expect that whose people will find it easier and more realistic to stay in their home for a longer period of time."
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