Obama Administration provides update on Hardest-Hit Fund program to help struggling homeowners in Ohio
COLUMBUS, OH – September 29, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of the Treasury today provided new details on its support for homeowners struggling due to adverse economic conditions in Ohio through the existing Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Innovation Fund for the Hardest-Hit Housing Markets (the Hardest-Hit Fund). This week, the Obama Administration approved Restoring Stability: A Save the Dream Ohio Initiative to use $148.7 million in previously allocated foreclosure-prevention assistance to support local initiatives to expand options for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments because of unemployment. The Administration also announced that it will make available an additional $249.7 million in Restoring Stability: A Save the Dream Ohio Initiative (Ohio’s Hardest-Hit Fund) to bolster and expand the reach of its programs.
“This Administration recognizes that unemployment and steep home price declines are concentrated in specific states and localities, so we will continue our work to stabilize the housing market and assist distressed homeowners in states hardest hit by these economic realities,” said the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Herb Allison. “We believe that these efforts at the state level will help get local housing markets back on track and complement our national housing stability and foreclosure prevention efforts.”
The Administration has allocated a total of $570.4 million to Ohio since President Obama first announced the Hardest Hit-Fund in February 2010 to allow states hit hard by the economic and housing market downturn flexibility in implementing programs to meet the local challenges homeowners in their state are facing. The allocation of additional funding announced today is based on population size. Each state housing agency will have flexibility in determining how to target the additional funds they will be receiving, and states will also determine when assistance will become available to homeowners. Under the Hardest-Hit Fund, states are already working to implement a variety of targeted programs to help struggling homeowners, including assistance to help unemployed homeowners pay their monthly mortgage, reinstatement assistance to bring delinquent homeowners current on their mortgage, principal reduction for homeowners who are underwater, assistance with second liens and facilitation of short sales.
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