Oregon Home Rescue Program.
Thousands of homeowners in Oregon may benefit from the Home Rescue Program. This mortgage payment assistance program is available to homeowners facing foreclosure who meet certain qualifications. Even those individuals that are underemployed or had a reduction in their income may benefit. The terms are more inclusive then some of those that operated in the past so it should assist a wider group of borrowers.
While the funding is limited and terms can change over time, the Home Rescue Program may provide homeowners with assistance on their mortgage of up to $20,000. In general, at most up to 12 monthly payments will be made. Or another component can provide for reinstatement payments of up to $10,000 to bring your mortgage and any outstanding balance on it current. The state is using federal government funds, partnering with HUD counseling agencies and also the Oregon Housing and Community Services department to administer this. Funding is very limited and the exact amount of aid paid out will also depend on how much assistance each person uses. Some of the other terms and conditions include:
Applicants will need to live in a one-unit, single-family residence. However note that both townhouses and condos can qualify as well. In addition, in order to qualify for the Home Rescue Program a homeowner’s expected income can't exceed 120 percent of state median income levels. This will be adjusted accordingly however to factor in the number of people that are living in the home. In addition, applicants will need to prove that their current income dropped by at least 10 percent over the last couple of years.
Those who apply do not necessarily need to be behind on their current mortgage payments in order to qualify for the program. The main goal is to give struggling homeowners additional breathing space and allow them to stabilize their finances over the next year or so. It can be complicated to both understand and apply. Therefore foreclosure counselors from non-profit credit and home counseling organizations can help distressed homeowners apply for the program free of charge.
Hundreds of residents have already tested and benefited from the program as it has been operating in towns and counties including Tillamook, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah, Klamath, and Lake counties. There is a cap that is set on the number of people who can apply for assistance. The exact number of families that can be supported will be based on how much government funding is available at any one time, so apply early.
Also it may take up to 120 days for your application to be reviewed and approved. It is strongly recommend that people also explore all other resources as they apply and while they wait on a decision from the state of Oregon. For example, you may want to consult a non-profit housing counselor as you wait. This is even more true if you are struggling today and facing a foreclosure. Examples of agencies to contact include Neighborhood Economic Development Corp, which is a nonprofit agency that can help borrowers and that is also administering the Home Rescue Program in Lane County Oregon. Many of these companies can help residents access other resources that were designed to provide some relief to struggling homeowners.
The Home Rescue Program can help keep someone in their home and giving them time to recover. The years worth of mortgage payments that are provided by the Oregon Housing and Community Services, which is the state's housing finance agency, can go a long way to ending the housing crisis in the region. Studies show that many of these government mortgage assistance programs (vs those from banks) have proven to be among the most successful resources available.
The Home Rescue Program is being funded by the federal government and specifically the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund. It was created in an effort to help the nation deal with the unprecedented home price declines, higher unemployment rates, and other weak economic conditions that have left many homeowners struggling with paying their mortgages.
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