Governor Rendell Hails New Federal Help for Pennsylvania Homeowners Struggling with Unemployment

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell today applauded the Obama Administration's announcement that it will provide $105,804,905 to help struggling homeowners in Pennsylvania through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP).  

In July, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It authorized HUD to administer a $1 billion emergency loan program to provide assistance – for up to 24 months – to homeowners who have experienced a substantial reduction in income due to involuntary unemployment, underemployment, or a medical condition and are at-risk of foreclosure.

HUD said it will help borrowers in 32 states and Puerto Rico not otherwise funded by the U.S. Treasury's Hardest Hit Housing Fund program, based on the state's relative share of unemployed homeowners. HUD intends begin taking applications from eligible homeowners by the end of the year.

"This new national program is modeled on Pennsylvania's successful Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, better known as HEMAP, which has helped to save more than 43,000 homes from foreclosure since 1983," Governor Rendell said. "I applaud U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah for helping to design the HEMAP program and also for working to enact the new federal relief program."

Under the EHLP:

• the borrower must be at least three months delinquent in their payments and have a reasonable likelihood of being able to resume repayment of their mortgage payments and related housing expenses within two years.
• the property must be the principal residence of the borrower, and eligible borrowers may not own a second home.
• the borrower must have suffered at least a 15-percent reduction in income and been able to afford their mortgage payments prior to the event that triggered the loss income.

EHLP will offer a forgivable, deferred payment "bridge loan" (zero percent interest, non-recourse, subordinate loans) for up to $50,000 to assist eligible borrowers with their mortgage arrearages and payments on their for mortgage principal, interest, mortgage insurance premiums, taxes and hazard insurance for up to 24 months.

More information about HUD and its programs is available online at www.hud.gov.

More information about Pennsylvania's Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program is available at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency website, www.phfa.org.

Media contact: Gary Tuma, 717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

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