‘Families and friends’ good for social support, not housing advice

By Pam Bailey, communications writer for NeighborWorks America

It’s been five years since the full force of the Great Recession hit the United States, with a combination of risky mortgages and declining housing prices forcing approximately 4.6 million families into foreclosure. While more than 13 million households are still underwater, saddled with homes worth less than their mortgage loans, the crisis is losing steam. Foreclosures fell 3 percent in 2012, according to RealtyTrac, and this year is looking even better. In October, foreclosure filings were 28 percent lower than the same month in 2012.

Still, many families are still struggling, and making smart choices will continue to be critical for both the next wave of new house buyers and existing owners working to hold on to their homes. In the aftermath of the crisis, are people now equipped with the information they need to negotiate the right mortgage, as well as to make other pivotal choices? If not, do they know where to go to get help that can be trusted?

To learn the answers to those and related questions, NeighborWorks America commissioned a nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults, which was conducted by Widmeyer Communications, a Finn Partners company, Sept. 23-26.  Among the many findings: Seventy-five percent of adults describe the the home-buying process as "complicated," and a quarter (24 percent) admitted to not being knowledgeable about the different kinds of mortgages.

So where, then, do they turn for advice when buying a house or avoiding foreclosure – a decision that is usually among the biggest financial choices they will make in their lifetimes? More than any other source, “family and friends” are relied upon most often.

When respondents who said they are considering buying a house were asked where they go to first for advice, more than a third (39 percent) cited family and friends who had already purchased a home. Distant runners-up were the Internet (17 percent) and real estate agents (16 percent). Far behind were housing counselors and (more specifically) non-profit homeownership advisers (3 and 5 percent, respectively).

The patterns for seeking information on foreclosure prevention are similar.  Individuals are most likely to turn to family, friends and co-workers (30 percent), followed by the Internet (27 percent), real estate agents (26 percent) or mortgage lenders (23 percent). Just 17 percent of respondents reported they are “very likely” to consult with a housing counselor. The reliance on friends, family and co-workers is especially seen among adults under 55 (37 percent) – particularly women.

Advantages of nonprofit housing counselors

There is nothing wrong, of course, with calling upon your social network. In fact, much research has documented the importance of family and friends in helping individuals cope with all sorts of stress. However, rarely are they professionals in the field of housing or banking, and even when they have gone through the process of home buying or loan modification themselves, each family’s financial situation is unique, not to mention the fact that rules vary depending on the lender and the timing.

“Having a supportive family is wonderful, and the Internet offers a wealth of information,” says Rose Marie Roberts, an advisor with the NeighborWorks Homeownership Center in Utica, NY. “But I wouldn’t go from there to action.” For example, when trying to prevent foreclosure, she notes, “rules and available programs, plus the related legal aspects, change almost daily. It’s a challenge to stay on top of them. But that’s the job of a housing counselor.” (Roberts talks about foreclosure counseling in a NeighborWorks America video.)

With the Government Accountability Office reporting that complaints about fraudulent “foreclosure rescue” schemes jumped from 9,000 in 2009 to more than 18,000 in 2012, it’s critical to have a professional advocate on your side. (Since 2007, NeighborWorks America has managed, at the request of Congress, the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program. It funds more than 1,700 agencies that have assisted nearly 1.6 million homeowners struggling to stay in their houses – without charging a fee. In fact, one sure sign of a scam is an individual or program that attempts to charge for this service. Yet, the survey found that slightly more than a third – 33 percent – of people think that free help is not as good as counsel that you pay to receive.)

A nonprofit housing counselor can help head off
trouble during the complicated home-buying process.

While realtors and mortgage lenders are essential advisors as well, housing counselors with nonprofit organizations such as those that are supported by NeighborWorks America take a holistic approach to each client’s situation – helping them evaluate far more than how much a particular house is worth, which mortgage they can afford or whether they are eligible for re-financing.

“For example, some of the residents in our community are attracted to the less-expensive homes one county over,” recounts Letty Plasencia, a counselor with NeighborWorks Orange County (CA). “But you have to look at more than the sales price. How much time and money will it take to commute to your job, for instance?”

There is hard data showing that pre-purchase counseling by a trained counselor works. A study conducted of 75,000 loans originated between October 2007 and September 2009 showed that clients receiving pre-purchase counseling and education from NeighborWorks organizations were one-third less likely to fall behind on their payments during  the two years after receiving their mortgage.

It’s not surprising that most people don’t think first of turning to a nonprofit housing counselor. Most local organizations do not have the budget for extensive public education. (One of the most successful national campaigns was the “Nothing is worse than doing nothing” campaign launched by NeighborWorks America and the Ad Council, centered on a series of public service announcements for broadcast. Another is the Loan Modification Scam Alert website and hotline.) Instead, local organizations typically rely on referrals and word-of-mouth. The good news is that clients do spread the word to friends and family. And many states and organizations, such as unions, have institutionalized referrals to housing counselors for residents or employees who find themselves underwater.

“In New York, lenders are required to notify homeowners in trouble,” says Roberts. “The problem is that they often don’t trust the lender by that point, or they assume they are a lost cause and no one can help them. I’d say 75 percent of the time, we get these individuals late in the game, from a lawyer or Supreme Court judge who handles settlements.”

The challenge for housing organizations is to build and better leverage relationships with a diverse array of other community stakeholders, such as schools and health clinics, to spread the word about their services to people before they need it. (And of course, expanded demand would require increased staff.) It is clear, counselors agree, that the best time to see a housing adviser is early on, prior to any critical decision-making.

Kevin Washington, a counselor with Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City (NHS-NYC) who specializes in foreclosure intervention, gives this example: “By the time people get to me, they often have gotten advice from a neighbor down the block who has been through foreclosure before, and they end up getting further in trouble. For example, sometimes these clients close all of their accounts down to pay off their debts, but that’s very bad for their credit scores. Plus, you’ll need some money to cover down payment and closing costs (to buy a more affordable house). You don’t need to pay off your debts; you just need to make the required payments. If they get to us too late, and they’ve already made mistakes, they have to wait even longer (to buy) so they can build their assets back up again.”

But perhaps Ruth Pena, another counselor with NHS-NYC, sums up the value of a housing counselor the best: “We create an action plan, and then hold (our clients’) hands through the entire process. Who else will do that?”

Continuing need for foreclosure counseling is sign of still-ailing economy

There’s good news and bad news in the report to Congress this week on the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program, which NeighborWorks America launched in 2008.
First, the good news: Nearly 1.6 million homeowners have received help to date from the NFMC program -- 124,512 in just the 12-month period ending on May 31, 2013. (We know the counseling helps. A 2011 Urban Institute analysis showed that individuals who take advantage of the program are more successful in obtaining mortgage modifications, and are able to negotiate larger monthly savings, than those who do not.)

Pam Bailey, new
blogger for
NeighborWorks
America

It’s also an improvement that in the last year, the ratio of people seeking help who have mortgages with fixed interest rates of 8 percent or less increased to nearly two-thirds (59 percent) – up from just 30 percent in October 2008. Clearly, the disastrous era of destructive “sub-prime” loans – with interest rates that soar higher over time – is on the wane.

The Great Recession and ‘jobless recovery’ take their toll

Why, then, are so many individuals still needing help to avoid foreclosure? An answer can be found in a couple of other statistics in the NFMC report: For example, when they first entered the program, nearly 37 percent of the individuals counseled in the last year were spending half of their income or more on mortgage-related costs – well above the maximum recommended 31 percent. Nearly one in five were spending more than 75 percent of their income on principal, interest, taxes and insurance – a rate that has held steady since 2008.

Housing costs have grown to be such a drag on household budgets primarily due to loss of – or a significant reduction in – employment income (reported by 64 percent of persons seeking NFMC services).   As noted in The New York Times recently, “the consequences of job loss go far beyond the spell of joblessness. Research shows that layoffs can worsen earnings, health and even mortality rates for up to 20 years after the initial displacement. Not to mention home ownership.”

This chart from the NFMC report shows that most
"Level Four" individuals (who have a debt-to-income
ratio of 55%) who seek counseling are aged 45-64.

There are two groups of people who seem to be struggling the most: recent graduates and older workers. A report from The Opportunity Nation released just this week documented that almost 15 percent of individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 (that’s almost 6 million young people) cannot find jobs once they have completed school. However, according to the U.S. Labor Department, while unemployment rates for newly graduated students are higher, older workers who have been laid off have a much harder time finding work. Over the last year, the average duration of unemployment for older people was 53 weeks, compared with 19 weeks for teenagers and young adults. (The NFMC report reflects this trend. Slightly more than half – 53.9 percent – of individuals seeking counseling through the program who have debt-to-income ratios of 55 percent or higher are between the ages of 45 and 64.)

This is a subject that hits close to home for me. After living overseas for three years, I returned home in late 2011 to the Great Recession and a forbidding job market.  I found my way to several LinkedIn forums and discovered large communities of mostly over-50 professionals who had been laid off and just could not find new positions. And the longer they were out of work, the harder it seemed to be to get interviews – a discrimination against the long-term unemployed confirmed by recent research.

Chronic unemployment becomes vicious cycle

A study conducted by Rand Ghayad, a visiting scholar at the Boston Fed, and William Dickens, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, found that as long as you've been out of work for less than six months, you can get called by companies for interviews even if you don't have experience. But after you've been unemployed for six months, it doesn't matter what experience you have. Quite literally.

“There's a new cliff in town, and it's much scarier than the fiscal cliff,” wrote Matthew O’Brien in The Atlantic in December. “It doesn't have anything to do with expiring tax cuts or sequesters. It has to do with people who have been out of work for six months or longer. It's the worst cliff of them all: the Unemployment Cliff.”

My new LinkedIn connections soon got to the point when they felt lucky to be offered any job, even at administrative levels and salaries far below what they once earned. Many a story was posted about having to give up homes and move in with others, whether friends or adult children. And those were perhaps the lucky ones; they had people who would take them in. I didn’t have a house to pay for, fortunately, but rents are high in the DC area, and as I started my job search, I felt their fear. (You can read some of their gut-wrenching stories on the website, "Over 50 and Out of Work.")

Indeed, says Vivien King, a senior manager at NeighborWorks America who works with the NFMC program, although the service has been able to help thousands of families stay in their homes, it is not always possible. “Sometimes a successful outcome is transition out of their home,” she says.

Mr. Chavez (far left)and his daughter with Gerber DeLeón -- a
homeownership preservation specialist with
NeighborWorks member Select Milwaukee.

Consider the Chavez family, who like 19 percent of NFMC clients, are Hispanic (a segment that is just 8 percent of the overall U.S. population and thus is over-represented among those seeking help from the program, along with African-Americans). In 2001, the couple and their four children had moved into a small duplex, followed by purchase of their first single-family home in 2007. They held onto their duplex, renting it out for additional income. Then their world turned upside down. In November of 2011, Ms. Chavez was let go from her full-time job, and the loss of the second income strained the family’s finances so much that they fell behind on their mortgage.  They tried to re-negotiate the terms, but by that time their financial condition was too shaky to allow them to qualify.

Their lender referred them to a NeighborWorks organization, where a Spanish-speaking counselor was able to provide the trusted advice they so desperately needed.  With Ms. Chavez still out of work and no offers on their house after several months on the market, the organization’s counselor helped guide the couple through a deed-in-lieu agreement with the lender, avoiding foreclosure.  Fortunately for the Chavez family, they had a fall-back -- the duplex they had rented out. Today, they live in the duplex, and although they had to give up both their single-family home and the down payment they had invested, they report an overwhelming sense of relief, free of the burden of struggling to make ends meet – and losing.

The Chavez family is relatively fortunate. They had a back-up option. Many others do not, and need assistance in finding new housing that is more affordable. This is why I am so glad to have joined the staff of NeighborWorks America. I can’t find jobs that pay a decent salary for all of those hard-working individuals I met on LinkedIn. But now I can do my part to help make sure they at least can find or keep an affordable place in a good community to call home.

Written by Pam Bailey, communications writer for NeighborWorks America. She would love for you to post your own stories and comments!

Additional Funding for Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program

By Jeanne Fekade-Sellassie
director, NeighborWorks America National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program

Today, NeighborWorks America announced that $70.1 million has been awarded to 30 state housing finance agencies (HFAs), 17 HUD-approved housing counseling intermediaries, and 72 community-based NeighborWorks organizations to provide counseling to families and individuals facing the threat of foreclosure.  Just one month after the seventh round of National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program funds were appropriated, communities across our country will be able to put the funds to immediate use.

At a time when foreclosures continue to affect communities around the country and unemployment rates remain high, the need for the NFMC funding is critical.  Demand for these funds far exceeded the amount of funding available; eligible applicants requested over $105 million in NFMC grant funds.



In total, more than 1,200 nonprofit counseling agencies and local NeighborWorks organizations across the country are expected to be engaged in the NFMC Program as a result of these awards.  These organizations provide invaluable, free assistance to families at risk of losing their homes, determine client eligibility for the Making Home Affordable programs, help clients understand the complex foreclosure process, and identify possible courses of action so their clients can make informed decisions and take action.

To date, more than 1,560,000 families in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam have received foreclosure counseling through the NFMC Program.  It is estimated that 193,000 families facing the threat of foreclosure will be directly assisted with this seventh round of funding.

In addition to the grant funding, the NFMC appropriations provide funding to train foreclosure counselors and to administer the program.  With these funds, NeighborWorks has conducted over 156 local, regional, and national trainings and has provided over 12,100 training scholarships and over 23,000 course completion certificates to individuals attending these trainings.  Nearly 5,800 participants have completed one or more of the three foreclosure e-learning courses developed with NFMC funds: Foreclosure Basics, Understanding and Applying Loss-Mitigation Tools, and Using Effective Practices to Improve your Foreclosure Counseling Program.  NeighborWorks expects to train 2,000 counselors with the seventh round of NFMC funding.

Learn more at http://nw.org/network/foreclosure/nfmcp/round7.asp 

Foreclosure Filings Down but Help Still Needed

By Douglas Robinson, media relations manager, NeighborWorks America

Housing counselors at NeighborWorks
affiliate Wyoming Housing Network helped
this couple save their home from foreclosure

RealtyTrac recently reported that new foreclosure filings in January 2013 dropped to the lowest level since April 2007, and that's a big deal and a good sign that many homeowners' financial positions are stabilizing. But the news from RealtyTrac also showed that more than 150,000 new foreclosure related notices were filed in January. These notices are on top of the nearly 1.5 million households who received a foreclosure notice in 2012.

These families need to be directed to the right kind of help and that's where trained housing counselors come in. According to data from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program, homeowners who receive help from a counseling agency that is a part of the NFMC program are more likely to obtain a mortgage modification, and get a better new mortgage rate if their loan is modified.

This week, the NeighborWorks Training Institute will convene in Atlanta and dozens of nonprofit professionals will take courses in foreclosure mediation, while dozens more will attend courses toward certification in homebuyer education. Homebuyer education prior to making the home purchase helps ensure that homebuyers know the full financial responsibilities of homeownership. NeighborWorks America believes that if more homeowners had the opportunity to work with a homeownership counselor prior to the housing crisis, the crisis would be much less severe.

More information about the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program can be found at: www.nw.or/nfmc. The full report to Congress on the NFMC program is available on the NeighborWorks America website. 

Information about NeighborWorks homeownership programs can be found at: www.nw.org/homeownership

NHS of Greater Cleveland: A Port in the Foreclosure Storm

This blog is part of our 35^th Anniversary Celebration series, highlighting NeighborWorks affiliates which are celebrating milestone years marking either their membership in the network or their incorporation as an organization. This month, NHSGC is celebrating 15 years since incorporation. 

By Brittany Hutson, NeighborWorks
America Public Relations fellow

The 2008 housing crisis caused many to wonder if buying a home could still be considered the "American dream." In spite of all the uncertainty about the housing market, Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland, Inc. (NHSGC) has remained steadfast in its mission to assist their clients in becoming homeowners. “A lot of people will say Cleveland and Slavic Village was the epicenter of foreclosure, mortgage fraud, flipping, etc.,” says Executive Director Lou Tisler. “But it was also the epicenter for solution based programs for the foreclosure crisis.”

Tisler says that the foreclosure crisis gave NHSGC an opportunity to prove their value and leadership and that the crisis required the organization to be more flexible and creative. The organization was selected for the Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, accumulated nearly $5.6 million to assist people in need with the NeighborWorks Collaborative of Ohio, and provided testimony at congressional hearings.

Dave Wilson came to NHSGC to avoid foreclosure. He had
suffered an injury and struggled to make ends meet. By working with
NHSGC, Wilson was able to get an affordable loan modification.

This month, the Cleveland, Ohio organization celebrates 15 years as part of the NeighborWorks network.  NHSGC offers a number of programs to “help people get, fix and keep their homes,” says Tisler. These programs include a homebuyer education program, a down payment assistance program, providing rehab loans to those who cannot get lending from traditional banks, a sustainability program that focuses on foreclosure prevention and intervention; mortgage counseling; and EnergYOU, which helps clients and residents conserve their budgets for utilities and food costs. The organization serves primarily low-to-moderate income people, as well as people with moderate-to-high income that seek foreclosure prevention assistance. “Our clients are usually underserved, under-banked and under-represented in the housing market,” says Tisler. The organization serves up to 3,500 people per year.

Raylene Hood reached out to NHSGC for assistance in saving her home. A
NHSGC counselor helped her apply for rescue funds to bring her mortgage current.
NHSGC also helped Hood when she needed emergency repairs on her roof.

Though NHSGC has seen its fair share of challenges in home equity, lack of access to capital, and limited lending, Tisler praises his staff of 16 for their motivation and commitment to serving the organization’s targeted community. “The staff [has been] the greatest asset to the organization,” says Tisler. “Our staff has gotten us to a solution based delivery system. To see them come in everyday and make what they do happen is incredible.”

In addition to the staff, Tisler says that being a part of the NeighborWorks network is “an incredible, valuable asset for the organization and the people we serve.” He adds, “As a network member, NHSGC has access to best practices and funding, and can share experiences and ideas with other network organizations. It is truly a network of excellence.”

NeighborWorks America Announces that the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program Has Served 1.5 Million Homeowners

1.5 million homeowners have received foreclosure prevention counseling by local nonprofits, national intermediaries and state housing finance agencies participating in the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program administered by NeighborWorks America, one of the nation’s largest community development corporations. The latest report on the NFMC program also found the program has helped save local governments, lenders, and homeowners approximately $920 million.

Watch this inspirational video about the compassionate NFMC-backed foreclosure counselors who are making a difference in the lives of individuals and families. 

 

Also notable in the report, NFMC clients who received a mortgage modification lowered their monthly mortgage payment, on average, $176 more per month than non-NFMC clients which represents $372 million in annual savings to NFMC-counseled homeowners. With more fixed-rate mortgages and lower interest rates, mortgage terms are becoming more favorable for homeowners. The percentage of clients that reported having fixed-rate mortgages with interest rates at or below 8 percent increased from 30 percent in October 2008 to 57 percent in August 2012. Nearly 69 percent of NFMC program clients report holding fixed-rate mortgages.

Jane Sokolowski Receives
Counselor of the Year Award
from Chuck Wehrwein,
NeighborWorks America COO

On December 13 NeighborWorks America and the NFMC program sponsored the inaugural NeighborWorks National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program Counselor Awards, which recognize the contributions of counselors whose tireless efforts help homeowners maintain homeownership and transition to suitable housing. The winners are the following: Jane Sokolowski - Catholic Charities (NY) for the Counselor of the Year Award; Betsy Carvajal - CredAbility (GA) for the Excellence in Counseling Award; Ali Tarzi - Community HousingWorks (CA) for the Excellence in Outreach & Professional Development Award; Amanda Diaz and Diego Tapia – Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (HACE) (PA) for the Excellence in Personal Achievement Award; and Rose Marie Roberts – Utica Neighborhood Housing Services NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center (NY) for the Counselor Perseverance Award. More information about the award winners is available here.

To view photos from the event, visit our Flickr page.

Foreclosure Counseling Nearly Doubles Chances of Mortgage Modification, Reduces Likelihood of Re-default by at Least 67 Percent

By Eileen Fitzgerald,
CEO, NeighborWorks America

I’m excited to share with you today the results of a new report prepared by the Urban Institute on the consumer benefits of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program.

The report shows that the NFMC program works incredibly well for homeowners and communities. Homeowners who received NFMC counseling were nearly twice as likely to obtain a mortgage modification as those who did not seek assistance from an NFMC foreclosure prevention counselor. Homeowners counseled through NFMC were at least 67 percent more likely to remain current on their mortgage nine months after receiving one.

The report also shows that homeowners received, on average, a mortgage modification that lowered their payment by $176 more per month, than homeowners who didn’t work with an NFMC counselor – a savings of close to $2,100 a year.This reduction in household expenses can free up funds for paying off debt, saving for college and meeting other needs.

The improved long-term sustainability of the borrower is led largely by the financial counseling that is a part of foreclosure prevention, not by the lower mortgage payment obtained. The personalized work nonprofit housing counselors do to help homeowners improve their overall financial situation had the greatest effect on a homeowner not falling behind again on their mortgages in the future.

The NFMC program also has benefits for mortgage servicers and investors. By significantly reducing the chance that a homeowner re-defaults after a mortgage modification, servicers are saved added expense. This tells us that increased servicer investment in partnerships with nonprofit counselors is a win for everyone.

If you’d like to learn more, I was recently interviewed about this report. See YouTube video.

Housing Partnership Network and Citi Foundation Launch Fund to Advance Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization

Citi Foundation announced recently that it is committing $2.75 million to the Housing Partnership Network (HPN) to support the neighborhood stabilization efforts of community-based housing organizations in 10 metropolitan areas across the country. The Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization and Foreclosure Prevention Initiative will provide the community based organizations with grants and other resources to support high-impact neighborhood revitalization projects over a two-year period. HPN has been a partner with NeighborWorks America and five other national organizations in neighborhood stabilization efforts through the National Community Stabilization Trust. HPN also collaborates with NeighborWorks America on the StrengthMatters Initiative.

Four NeighborWorks organizations will be a part of the Citi Foundation and HPN initiative:

Housing Development Fund will work to stabilize Connecticut cities with high rates of foreclosure by developing a cohort of “landlord entrepreneurs” who will play a significant role as owner-occupants in a new, coordinated financing and training model for the purchase, rehabilitation and responsible management of owner-occupied small multi-family properties.

HAP Housing will advance strategic neighborhood approaches for the stabilization of three low-income Springfield, Massachusetts neighborhoods hit hard first by the effects of foreclosures and abandonment, and then by a devastating F-3 tornado on June 1, 2011.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago will implement a new model for advising homeowners through a network of Resolution Specialists who will work in partnership with the homeowner, lender, and servicer to modify mortgages through the new national Mortgage Resolution Fund effort.

Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc. (NHSNYC) in collaboration with the New York Mortgage Coalition (NYMC) and the Long Island Housing Partnership (LIDP) will create a foreclosure intervention program for existing homeowners who may qualify to own or rent their homes if prices were reset to current market valuations.

More than 1.1 Million Homeowners Counseled for Foreclosure



NeighborWorks America, the administrator of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program, announced that more than 1.1 million homeowners across the nation have received foreclosure counseling through the NFMC Program, according to the Program’s sixth Congressional report.

As of June 30, 2011, more than 1,168,062 homeowners in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories have received foreclosure counseling as a result of NFMC Program funding.

In December 2010, an independent analysis of the NFMC Program showed that NFMC Program clients in foreclosure were 1.7 times more likely to cure a foreclosure and potentially avoid losing a home, than homeowners who did not receive foreclosure counseling. In addition, NFMC clients who received loan modifications reduced their monthly mortgage payments on average by $267 more per month than they would have without NFMC counseling. This represents an annual savings of over $3,200 per homeowner.

The sixth Congressional Report also found that the largest share of foreclosure mitigation counseling provided by the NFMC Program has gone to assist struggling homeowners in the states hardest hit by delinquencies and foreclosures, such as California and Florida. Minority and low-income homeowners and neighborhoods, which have been disproportionately impacted by the foreclosure crisis, are well-served by the NFMC Program: 31 percent of NFMC Program clients were identified as racial minority homeowners, 20 percent were of Hispanic origin, and 66 percent were classified as low- income.

Homeowners who would like to receive foreclosure counseling can visit http://www.findaforeclosurecounselor.org/ to find a NFMC Program-funded counseling organization in their community.For more information about the NFMC Program, visit www.nw.org/nfmc.