The Obama administration has set up a program called Making Home Affordable that can help you to modify your mortgage to help you deal with your arrearages and reduce your payments. You should ask your mortgage company about Making Home Affordable and contact a PUP housing counselor to help you apply.
Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP)
and Help for the Unemployed
- HEMAP was enacted during the deep recession of 1983. It was designed to help unemployed workers save their homes at a time when unemployment went above 10% nationally.
- HEMAP offers low interest loans to homeowners to pay their mortgage for up to 36 months (during recessions) or until they get back to work.
- The HEMAP program trigger increased the length of assistance in February 2009 to 36 months following the rise in the state unemployment rate to 7.0%.
- Over the years the program has become less likely to assist someone behind on their mortgage due to unemployment, even though the law has not changed.
- HEMAP provides assistance mostly to people who are already back on their feet, while usually denying those who will need ongoing help.
- In 2007 and 2008 of the 4,700 families HEMAP helped, only 20% got ongoing assistance. The rest were already back to work and able to resume their current payments, but could not make their back payments.
- Since the current foreclosure crisis started mortgage companies are very often willing to modify mortgages of people who have a steady income. The companies have been reducing payments, based on ability to pay and putting the back payments onto the end of the mortgage.
- However for those with no steady income those “loan modifications” are very difficult to get. These people need HEMAP and are mostly the unemployed.
- Foreclosures in Pennsylvania jumped 74% between February 2008 and February 2009, over double the national average. 4,200 foreclosures were filed in PA this February compared to 2,400 a year ago.
- HEMAP needs to begin approving unemployed workers for ongoing mortgage assistance so that people do not lose their homes due to the recession. Adequate funding is needed to cover loans to the thousands of unemployed Pennsylvanians who will need help to get them through the recession.
- HEMAP received $16 million in funding in the 08-09 Fiscal Year. To deal with the large numbers of unemployed in the coming year HEMAP must receive $20 million.
Prepared by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project for the Save Our Homes Coalition 112 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 557-0822