Press Contact Only:
Margaret Matrone, NCHFA, 919-877-5606,
Connie Helmlinger, NCHFA, 919-877-5607,
Foreclosure prevention efforts that have helped more than 1,100 North Carolinians save their homes got a boost earlier this month when the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency was awarded an additional $895,350 of federal funds from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program. The funds support foreclosure prevention counseling by nonprofit agencies statewide. [EDITOR: See attached list of counseling agencies by county.] The grant was awarded through a competitive process and is the third won by the Agency, bringing North Carolina’s total to nearly $6 million.
Funds from the earlier grants are expected to provide counseling for more than 14,000 homeowners by year’s end. Of those who have completed counseling, 1,158 are known to have avoided foreclosure and only 40 are known to have been foreclosed on. The third grant is expected to assist 2,800 homeowners by June 2010.
“Saving homes from foreclosure not only protects working families but it preserves property values throughout the community and contributes to the stability of financial institutions,” said Lucius S. Jones, chairman of the board of the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. “Our agency is very proud to have gained these funds for North Carolina.”
Approved by Congress in the 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Bill, the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program is administered through a competitive application process by NeighborWorks ® America, within guidelines defined by Congress. NeighborWorks® America is an independent, congressionally chartered nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, with a mission to provide access to sustainable homeownership and safe, affordable rental housing. The latest round of funding came from the 2009 Appropriations Bill.
The N.C. Housing Finance Agency distributes the funds to the local nonprofit counseling groups, which work directly with homeowners.
The N.C. Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. Its mission is to finance affordable housing for North Carolinians whose needs are not met by the market. In addition, it works with the state’s housing counseling agencies through its management of the Home Protection Program. The program was created by the General Assembly in 2004 to help workers who lose their jobs because of plant closings and other changes in economic conditions. [EDITOR: attached list also notes those that counseling agencies that offer the home protection program.] The agency is also a partner in foreclosure prevention efforts by the Offices of the Commissioner of Banks and the Attorney General.
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The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. It has financed 191,000 affordable homes and apartments in the last three decades, including nearly 80,000 homes for first-time home buyers. To learn more, go to www.nchfa.com or call 919-877-5700 or 800-393-0988.
